


Sun and Shadow

by G8rguy



Category: Powers - Fandom, Sky High (2005), The Fosters (TV 2013), superheroes - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Jonnor - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-04-13 09:38:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 69,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4516944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/G8rguy/pseuds/G8rguy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: takes place during the summer of Season three, but set in totally different world - sci fi/fantasy realm that exists in modern world.  Intersects with the movie Sky High as Jude discovers that he has inherited more from his mother than just her hair and eye color.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_After episode 3x08_ **

Jude and Connor were sitting in Jude’s room after getting back from seeing Callie and coming home. They set quietly for a bit on Jude’s bed, Connor waiting while Jude struggled to find the words.

“I’m sorry” Jude said finally. “I was just so mad about everything, it was just too much.”

Connor watched Jude but didn’t say anything.

“Aren’t you going to yell at me or say I was stupid or something?” Jude asked.

“No” Connor said quietly. “what’s the point?” he smiled slightly.

Jude looked over with a slightly puzzled look on his face as he watched Connor’s smile grow. “What?”

Connor just smiled even more and leaned over and kissed Jude briefly. “You should really take your own advice more” he teased.

Suddenly remembering that first day in his room, Jude smiled at his boyfriend “Dork.”

“Your dork!” Connor smiled back. Then the smile faded as he looked at Jude “why didn’t you talk to me?”

Jude looked down not able to meet Connor’s eyes. “It was all happened so fast. I just couldn’t process it and snapped. I should have talked to you, I know you are there for me. I just don’t get it. Why is she doing this AGAIN!?”

Connor didn’t know the story but there was only one “she” that could make Jude react like this: Callie. But until he was ready to talk, Connor would have to wait. He reached over and grabbed Jude’s hand and squeezed gently. Jude leaned over and put his head on Connor’s shoulder and sighed. They would talk about it, but later. Now he just needed this. To rest in the presence of his boyfriend.

**End of summer school**

It was the last day of summer school and Jude was glad to be done. Connor had an appointment and had left early and Lena had a late meeting but Jude decided to wait for her. After cleaning out his locker, Jude walked towards the beach. It was very quiet as there was no one on the beach and most of the students had fled the school at the first chance. Jude was walking along the beach enjoying the calm of the ocean and the overcast day. He wasn’t sure why but over the last few weeks he had noticed that he preferred nighttime and that sunlight was less and less enjoyable.

“Well look what we have here” a sneering voice said behind him.

Turning around Jude saw Tyler Roberts and along with two other guys (Rickie & Walter, I think) walking towards him. Tyler was a jerk – no other word for it. He and his cronies had been making rude comments about him and Connor since they had been outed by Taylor at the end of the year party.

Rolling his eyes, Jude tried to ignore them and look back at the waves.

“Hey fag! Where’s your boyfriend?” Tyler yelled no longer content with snide comments, this was the most aggressive he had ever been.

“Why don’t you grow up Tyler?” Jude said tiredly. He was really getting bored with this crap. You would think that they would get bored with this stuff, but no, it seemed to keep coming back just when you thought it was over. Jude stood up and headed back towards the school.

Rickie jumped in front of Jude and snarled “Where do you think you are going homo?”

Jude looked back and saw that Tyler and Walter had surrounded him and that there was no one nearby. “Really guys, you want to kicked out of school? Not too smart since Anchor Beach has a no fighting policy.” Jude tried to move between them but they shoved him back. 

“School’s over fag boy” Tyler said “they can’t do anything.”

“Are you really that stupid?” Jude replied with a smirk. “My mom is the VP, do you think she will agree that you can beat up other students just because the bell rang? And let’s not forget my boyfriend. You think you can run fast enough to outrun him?” 

Jude could tell that the boys suddenly weren’t so sure of themselves as they were before. He knew that Rickie was especially afraid of Connor. They had been at the skate park when Rickie decided that Connor being gay meant he was weak and tried to push him around. Jude didn’t like violence, but seeing Connor lay out Rickie with one punch still brought a smile to his face, though he did feel guilty about it, well a little guilty.

“Yeah well, I don’t think they can get here in time to help you” Tyler said trying to regain his courage. “When we are done with you your boyfriend won’t think you’re so pretty anymore or bring you flowers.”

“Actually” Jude said confidently “I can guarantee he will and instead of flowers, he is going to bring me your teeth because he is going to tear you apart.” Jude knew if he could get them scared of Connor, they just might back off. “I’ve been beaten up before, so I know I can take it. How about you Tyler, you ready to know what it feels like to be beaten within an inch of your life. Rickie, I guess you didn’t get enough the last time, of course though Connor only got one punch in, it was enough to lay you out, but I bet he won’t stop with just one this time. And Walter, do you think either one of these guys will come to your aid when Connor comes after you?” Jude pushed between Rickie and Walter knowing they were the most rattled. 

Okay, he thought, just get a few more feet away and I can make a run for it Jude thought when he heard Tyler snarl “Are you gonna that fag talk to us like that?” and with that Jude took off down the beach.

The three bullies came after him and he saw Rickie out of the corner of his eye moving to cut him off so Jude veered, but that way was the water. He took a gamble and running right up to the water he cut back the way they had come and surprised his pursuers. He thought he was good when a hand grabbed him from behind and spun him around towards the ground. Jude hit the beach but was able to get up and faced Tyler standing there with his back to the water while Rickie and Walter were on either side.

“I am so going to enjoy this homo” Tyler snarled as he stalked toward Jude. “You won’t be talking to anyone after this and its time that your little boyfriend got what’s coming to him too!”

“NO” Jude screamed. “You leave Connor alone!”

Suddenly Jude felt cold. A coldness that he had never felt before. Not like ice or winter, but like standing out at night when all the warmth from the sun was gone, or when you stepped into a deep shadow and felt the temperature plunge. It was a refreshing cold that made him feel…safe.

“Oh I don’t think so” Tyler sneered. “Three on one, I bet we can not only mess up his pretty face, but can make it so that he never plays for any team again. That is for real men, not fairies like you!” Tyler punches Jude in the face with that last word and Jude flies back and is caught by the other two.

Jude has been hit before. In his foster homes, being abused was common and he remembers how it hurt. He has been pushed and shoved since coming to Anchor Beach, but Tyler…he punched like…like…well a total wimp. I mean I barely felt that punch. He fell back more out of shock than pain, but it was almost like he was faking it.

Tyler punched him again in the stomach twice, but both times felt like he was patting Jude’s stomach, it didn’t hurt at all. But from the look on Tyler’s face, he was trying. Jude laughed.

“What the hell are you laughing at fag?!” Tyler yelled.

Jude pulled his arms in together and Steven and Rickie were dragged along like they weighed nothing and then when he flung out to the sides to land in the sand surprised. But not as surprised as Tyler who just watched this scrawny kid throw off two bigger guys.

Tyler swung his fist at Jude’s face again but Jude ducked and then stepped up to Tyler and shoved against his chest. It was harder to say who was surprised: Jude who watched what happened or Tyler who suddenly found himself flying backwards to land in the water nearly 20 feet from where he had been standing. 

Jude stood there for a second before looking at Rickie who had a panicked look on his face. Jude smiled and stepped towards him only to see Rickie scream and take off away from Jude. He turned back towards Walter, but he had already taken off. Tyler was trying to stand up in the waves and kept getting knocked down. But Jude just wanted to go home. He just wants to be where he is safe and he feels that cold again, wrapping him up and driving away the California sun.

Suddenly everything goes black. Jude cannot see but then he can see things again but they are so different now. The trees lining the beach are glowing white and the sand and water are shades of grey. He can see the building of the school, but it is like an xray, he can see inside the halls and even see people, glowing white in the darkness, moving around. Scared he just wants to go home.

Like a flash, Jude can see his house, exposed like the school, just a few steps behind the school, even though he knows it is farther away.

Jude takes a step forward and suddenly the school is gone and Jude is standing in his front yard. Looking up he can see inside the house. The walls just lines, furniture no more than outlines, as he looks up into his room he sees his bed. Whimpering he takes another step and finds himself in his room, but it’s so strange. Everything is shades of grey and shining white in a sea of black and Jude is scared. He hears a sound and looks down and sees Callie and Mariana, both ghostly white and glowing as they stand in the kitchen, “Make it stop!” he yells when all of sudden he feels a flash of warmth and the light and color comes rushing back. 

Jude is standing in the middle of his room, his feet covered with sand and the hems of his pants still wet from the beach.

“What is happening to me?” he asks desperately.


	2. Chapter 2

Jude was freaking out. One minute he was standing on the beach outside school after trashing three bullies like it was nothing and now he was standing in his room. He was going crazy! He had felt so strong on the beach, he tossed Tyler like he weighed nothing. Walking over to his desk he grabbed the end and tried to lift it but it was too heavy. He could shift it a bit, it should weigh less than a teenager, a stout teenager at that, but he obviously wasn’t stronger.

Jude suddenly realized that he was tired…no exhausted. Like he had run a marathon. He dropped down to his bed and in seconds was out like a light.

“JUDE!” he heard Callie yelling as someone shook him awake.

“What?” Jude replied groggily opening his eyes and seeing his older sister standing there. 

“He is in his room” Callie yelled out the door. Mariana and Lena both walked in looking exasperated. 

“Jude what happened?” Lena asked him. “I waited for you at school and then you didn’t answer your phone.”

“We didn’t even know you were home Jude” Mariana told him. “When mama came in we told her you weren’t here. Everyone was getting worried.”

Jude frowned. “I was really tired…I just wanted to lay down” Jude told them. “I am sorry mama, I must have forgot to take my phone off vibrate so I didn’t hear you call.”

“Just send me a text next time honey” Lena told him smiling. “Are you feeling okay?”

Jude was going to say no so he could stay in his room but instead found himself saying “Actually, I am really hungry…starving actually.” Jude was surprised as he normally didn’t eat a lot, a carryover from his time in foster care. Meals were rarely comfortable and so his stomach was nervous when he was stressed. Though he was mostly over the stress of meals, he still ate sparingly. But now he really was hungry!

“What are we having?” he asked eagerly.

All three women smiled as they all knew, and had talked about, how little Jude ate. Lena and Stef always made sure that there were leftovers and snacks and Jude would eat more alone or when he calmed down, but it was funny seeing him acting so much like a typical teenage boy.

“Mom is cooking burgers. Do you want to help?” Lena asks.

Jude surprises everyone, including himself, by saying yes. “Oh, can Connor come over too?” he asks as he heads downstairs.

“Of course” Lena says smiling as if there was any other answer.

_Later that evening_

Connor had arrived and he and Jude were outside at the grill helping Stef with the burgers. “I hope you guys are hungry” Stef said. 

“Definitely” Connor said with a smile.

“Starving” Jude said. Both Connor and Stef looked at him surprised. Jude…starving?

As Stef pulls the burgers off the grill they head in to the kitchen to eat. The whole family is there except for Brandon who is at Idlewild, but it is a good time. They are all laughing and chatting when Stef notices that Jude is on his third burger.

“Wow Jude, you really were starving” Stef laughs.

“What is that, your second burger?” Connor laughs.

“Third” Jude says around a mouthful.

Both Jesus and Connor stop in surprise. Jude is eating more than they are? Challenge ACCEPTED!

The boys both speed up to get to their third burger despite Stef and Lena trying to get them to stop. But it is now a contest. Normally the safe bet is Jesus, he is a bottomless pit. He doesn’t manage to finish his fourth burger, but Connor did…barely. They look over at Jude who is smiling finally feeling full. 

“Jude” Stef says in shock “where…how…you ate six burgers!”

The rest of the table looked over at him in shock but he just smiled sheepishly. He told them he was hungry.

The family moves to the family room to watch a movie together. After about an hour Lena stood up to see who wanted dessert. Most of the family groaned but Jude looked up eagerly “I do!”

“Seriously” Jesus moaned. “How can you be hungry after everything you ate?”

Jude just smiled “Guess I’m a growing boy.” He looked over at Connor who was smirking and wiggling his eyebrows at Jude “Definitely!” he murmured softly.

Jude laughed but got up to help Lena with dessert.

_Several days later_

It was strange, but Connor and Jude hadn’t been able to talk much. They still texted all the time, but Connor kept coming up with conflicts and most recently he and his dad had to go on a trip for Adam’s work. They left for Seattle, why he still didn’t know, for a week and Jude was in a funk. 

He was sitting on the swing in the back yard moping. Honestly there was no other word to describe it. He was sulking about not seeing his boyfriend for nearly five days with another seven to go. He was not a happy Judicorn.

“Hey honey” Stef walked out in the backyard. She sat down next to Jude “What’s wrong luv?” she asked him.

“I just miss Connor” Jude replied. “I know it’s just been a bit, but I miss seeing him. Texting and talking on the phone isn’t the same.” 

Stef pulled him in for a hug. “I know hon, but he will be back soon. Do you want to help me make dinner?”

“If it’s okay, I would like to just sit here for a bit” Jude said quietly.

“Sure thing” Stef told him getting up. 

Back in the kitchen Stef and Lena were preparing dinner and talking about Jude. They were a bit worried that he was in a state, but teenagers in love are never easy. Mariana, Jesus, and Callie all came in from the mall.

“Hey moms” Mariana said happily. “What’s for dinner?” 

“Chicken” Lena replied. 

“Can we eat outside?” Mariana asked. “It’s such a nice night.”

“Sure honey, why don’t you three go set the table. Jude is out there and can help” Stef told them.

“Is he still sulking?” Jesus asked.

“Hey!” Callie jumped to Jude’s defense. “He misses Connor. I recall you were all moody when Lexi moved too.”

Jesus threw up his hands as he saw Mariana coming in to join Callie. They were both jumping to Jude’s protection, but Jesus knew that Jude was thinking too much. He was his little brother too and roommate. They talked more than the rest of the family realized and he knew how much Jude was missing Connor, but there was something else bothering him that Jesus couldn’t find out.

Walking out back with the dishes, Jesus walked over to Jude and saw him zoned out. Smiling he decided that Jude needed to shake it off. Grabbing Jude from behind, he bear hugged him and dragged him up. “GOTCHA!” he yelled.

“Jesus! Let me go!” Jude growled. Jude struggled, but Jesus just laughed. He was a wrestler and Jude was a skinny kid…who weighed more than Jesus expected…and was he feeling muscles? Jude was bulking up? Maybe he was working out with Connor or something, though Jude was not the exercise type Jesus thought.

“Jesus let me go!” Jude’s voice suddenly got deeper and Jesus felt something…cold. Like the temperature dropped but he just laughed. 

“Sorry bro, but you have to lighten up, laugh a little, and stop all this sulking!” Jesus teased. From his position he decided to go nuclear and started tickling Jude. Jude screamed!

Lena and Stef walked out to see Callie and Mariana laughing, Jesus tickling Jude and Jude yelling when everything went crazy.

The backyard suddenly got darker, like the sunlight was being drained away. Jude broke free from Jesus’ grip and stepped back when Jesus lunged forward to try and get him again but Jude threw up his hands to push Jesus back and then Stef and Lena screamed and dropped the food.

Jesus went flying across the yard away from Jude. Shocked he still reacted the way he trained and ducked his head and balled up so when he hit the ground he rolled. Stunned he avoided any injury, but what had happened? Lena and Stef were by his side moments after he rolled to a stop. Mariana was right behind them but Callie was frozen looking at Jude who was still standing there with his hands out, a look of terror on his face.

“Jude” Callie whispered “What did you do?”

Jesus sat up “I’m fine, honest. Just got the wind knocked out of me.”

Stef looked over at the panic stricken Jude. “Jude honey?” Stef moved towards him but he stepped back, fright clear on his face. “It’s okay, just calm down.” Stef used her training to deal with suspects, talking calmly trying to get Jude to calm down seeing the fear in his face. She looked at his eyes and froze. They were black, pure black. No white. No brown. Just black. She also noticed that the shadows in the background were moving. They were sliding across the lawn towards Jude and seemed to melt into him. His hair was turning black and the color was leaching from his clothes.

Stef felt panic. She had seen supers before. Those people with powers that made them into heroes and villains. Those beings that could destroy buildings and city blocks. There were actually two supers on the San Diego Police Department but they had minor powers and mostly were defensive. They would call on the supers in Los Angeles if things got too out of hand.

Jude was a super. That was clear but how? She didn’t know how they got their powers, but Stef was worried for her son. 

“Jude. You need to calm down. Take a deep breath. Please just breathe.” Stef felt goosebumps on her skin as Jude was getting darker. The backyard was getting darker and the temperature was dropping and she could barely see his face anymore. “Honey, it’s going to be okay” she said softly moving forward and feeling the cold increase but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She heard a whimper from behind her. Callie?

“Jude” Callie cried “please!”

“Honey” Stef kept her voice steady. She repeated her instructions again and again. Staying calm and reminding him they loved him and that he was safe with his family. Jesus was fine, he wasn’t hurt. Everything would be okay. Just breathe. She kept repeating it and then something happened.

Suddenly she felt warmth. All of sudden the light of early evening returned and the shadows seemed to pull away from Jude. He was standing there color coming back as the shadows retreated and light and warmth returned. He was breathing, deep breath in, deep breath out. With each breath the shadows retreated and he looked more and more like their Jude.

Jude opened his eyes, still black as coal and he looked at Stef. The fear had faded and determination was written on his face. He was taking control. Then, like water running out of a bucket, the black drained from his eyes. The white returned first and then those sweet brown eyes were back. He looked at Stef with a triumphant smile for a second before they rolled up in his head and he collapsed. 

Stef ran to him, Callie right behind her, then Lena, Mariana and Jesus were coming over too. Jude was unconscious but his color was returning to normal though a little pale.

“Mama” Mariana whispered. “What happened? Is he okay?”

Stef looked at her daughter and then the rest of the family one by one. Taking a deep breath. “Jude is a super.” Everyone’s eyes widened.

“No.” Callie whispered fear in her voice and eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Jude woke up in his room not sure exactly how he got here. He was in the backyard a minute ago wasn’t he? He looked over at the clock and saw the time…it was 8:30am! He had been asleep all night. He stood up and saw he was still wearing the clothes he had on last night except his shoes. He looked across the room but Jesus’s bed was empty. 

Jesus! Jude remembered pushing him and seeing him fly across the yard. Jude hurt him! He started panicking, what did he do? How did he do it? He was getting scared when he remembered hearing Stef say something about Jesus being okay. Was he? Jude moved to the door when he suddenly felt his stomach clench. He almost doubled over in pain. He was HUNGRY!! Starving even. It was worse than the other day. He opened the door but didn’t see anyone.

Heading downstairs he heard voices talking low in the kitchen. He recognized his family but couldn’t hear what they were saying. He debated listening from the hallway but his stomach demanded attention so Jude took a breath and walked in causing everyone to go silent.

Jude looked around and saw everyone there except Brandon. He looked closely at Jesus, trying to find any sign of injury. His face fell as he saw the bruise on the side of his face.

“Jesus…” Jude said feeling sick. 

Jesus jumped up and came around the table with a smile. “Hey bro, it’s okay” he assured Jude with a smile. “I guess you didn’t know your own strength.” He grabbed the smaller boy in a big hug but Jude kept his arms down. “It’s okay” Jesus whispers as he feels Jude trembling. 

“I’m so sorry” Jude cries and finally wraps his arms, carefully, around his brother in a hug.

They stand there for a few minutes as Jude cries till Jesus hears his stomach growls, loudly. “Jude” Jesus laughs at him “you hungry?” he teases his little brother.

Jude sniffs and looks up and over at the family. “Yeah, actually I am starving” he says quietly.

Lena stands up and fixes a plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes from the stove and sets them at the table. “Eat up honey” she says smiling at Jude. He sits down and looks over at Callie and Mariana and can see the worry on their faces. 

“Thank you” he says quietly and starts eating. Each bite seems delicious and the more he eats, the hungrier he feels. In just a few minutes his place is clean, but he still feels hungry. 

“Wow Judicorn, you inhaled that” Mariana teased him. “You must have really been hungry.”

Jude looks nervous as his stomach growls again. Mariana laughs “Are you still hungry?”

Jude looks embarrassed but he looks up “Starving, it doesn’t feel that I even ate anything” he admits.

Stef and Lena look at each other. “Jude” Stef asks gently “are you hungry for anything in particular?”

Jude thinks for a moment “Burgers, bacon, steak, hot dogs, peanut butter, pizza, cheese, fruit and vegetables” he pauses “milk, juice, chocolate…I don’t know but I am really hungry” he says apologetically.

Stef stands up and opens the fridge. “We have a couple of burgers and some lasagna leftovers…” she starts. 

“Yes!” Jude says. 

“Which?” she asks him looking over at him.

Jude blushes… “both” he asks.

Over the next half hour Jude inhales an inhuman amount of food. Clearing out many leftovers as well as several dishes Lena makes up. He eats over a dozen eggs in omelets as well as an entire pack of bacon. Everyone is stunned, but he finally slows down after drinking an entire gallon of milk.

He leans back finally feeling full. He looks up at the shock on their faces. “What’s wrong with me?” he asks getting scared.

Everyone grabs him in a big hug and tells him how much they love him. Finally Stef stops them. “Okay, everyone let’s go sit in the living room” she orders. Putting her arm around Jude she leads him onto the couch. Everyone sits down.

“Jude” Stef starts “as part of my police training, all officers learn how to deal with those people who are ‘special’. Those with abilities different from others.” Jude looks at her confused. “We call them supers.”

A look of comprehension comes over his face “You mean like the Commander and Jetstream?” Jude asks about his favorite heroes.

Stef smiled “Yes, exactly. They are the two most famous heroes, but there are lots more and those that are villains when they use their powers to break the law.”

“But what does that have to do with me?” Jude asks her.

Stef sighs and looks over at Lena before looking back at her son. “Jude, you are a super.”

His eyes widen in shock. That can’t be right he thinks. I’m not a hero or anything. Jude stands up “That doesn’t make sense” he tries to deny Stef’s words.

“Honey, think about it. You displayed super strength – throwing Jesus across the yard. You absorbed the light in the back yard. Shadows were flowing to you. Your eyes, hair, and clothes – they all became black and dark. The temperature in the yard even dropped. There is no other explanation.”

Jude sat back down in shock. 

“I don’t get something” Mariana stated. “How? I mean he never had powers before did he?” she looked over at Callie. 

“No” Callie said. “If he had super-strength, we would have had a much easier time in foster care, trust me.”

“But then how did he get powers?” she asked the room.

“We will figure that out” Lena told them. “But for now, we need to protect Jude and keep this secret. If people find out, it could be dangerous for him as well as all of you.” She looked over at Stef. “Let your mom and I talk for a bit okay? Jude, why don’t you go take a shower?”

Jude nodded and headed upstairs still in shock. He wandered into the shower and washed up in a daze. He couldn’t believe it. Him…a super? It didn’t make sense. He stepped out of the shower and started drying off when he felt his stomach growl. ‘ARE YOU KIDDING!?’ he thought. I’m hungry again!? He walked over to the sink and looked in the mirror and was shocked. He looked taller and did he have abs? He was definitely more muscled. He was very aware of how he looked as he constantly compared himself to Connor, but he was more defined than ever.

Wrapping the towel around his waist he went to his room to get dressed and saw Jesus sitting on the bed. He felt guilty again even though Jesus told him he was okay. He didn’t want to make eye contact but he heard Jesus’s voice. “Damn Jude! You have been working out!” He got off the bed and walked over to Jude. “Your chest, abs, and arms – you are getting buff. Working out with Connor is paying off!” he praised.

Jude looked nervously at Jesus. “I haven’t been working out with Connor” he whispered. “I haven’t done anything.” Jesus thought he was going to cry.

Jesus hugged him again. “Get dressed bro, but just shorts, okay?” Jesus walked over to his desk and pulled out a notepad and a something that looked like a rope.

Jude had pulled on his boxers when Jesus came over and he realized that the rope was a tape measure. “Okay dude, we are going to take your measurements.” 

“Why?” Jude asked.

“Because, if you are not working out, then your super ability is making you buff. We need to see which. If we track your measurements, we can do that.” Jesus explained and proceeding to begin his measuring – biceps, thighs, waist, calves, chest, and neck. “Okay, let’s weigh you too” Jesus said heading back to the bathroom.

“Why weigh?” Jude asked following along. 

“Muscles weighs more” Jesus explained. If you are adding mass, then it will show up on weight where it might not on looks.  
Jude stood on the scale in shock. He weighed 135 pounds! He had added nearly 20 pounds since he weighed himself last week. He looked at Jesus in shock.

“Well, you did put away a ton of food a little while ago, it might not be accurate” Jesus starts and hears Jude’s stomach growl again. “Seriously dude?” he laughs at Jude’s blush.

“It’s not that bad this time” Jude says feeling embarrassed. 

“Let’s get you a snack” Jesus teases. Jude finishes getting dressed and they had to the kitchen and see moms and the girls sitting there. “Jude is hungry again” he declares.

Callie and Mariana look shocked at Jesus’s claim while Jude blushes. “Honey?” Lena asks curiously.

“Yeah, kind of” Jude replies.

Lena pulls out sandwich supplies and puts one together that Jude devours quickly. “I think I might need to go to the store” she muses.

Jude looks embarrassed but before he can say anything, the doorbell rings.

Everyone looks nervous. Stef gets up and walks to the door, but everyone else stays where they are.

Stef opens the door and sees a well-dressed young woman with red hair and young man with a kind face standing at the door. They seem pleasant, smiling at her. “Stef Adams-Foster?” the woman asks.

“Yes” she replies carefully.

“We would like to talk to you about an educational opportunity for your son” the man says with a smile.

Stef looks concerned. “What kind of opportunity?” she asks carefully.

“Perhaps we can talk inside, maybe even meet Jude?” the woman says carefully. Stef is suddenly suspicious of this – they want to talk about Jude?

Lena comes around the corner with Callie with her. “Stef? Who is it?” she asks.

Before Stef can answer the man looks over at them “Hello Mrs. Adams-Foster. Callie. We are here to talk about Jude” he explains.

Callie reacts with anger. “What do you want with my brother?!” she yells.

“We want to help him, honest” the woman says trying to calm her down. 

“I think you should leave” Stef says and closes the door on them. They can see that both of them are standing on the porch still. Callie is scared of this – who are they.

“Mrs. Adams-Foster” the man calls out. “We really need to talk to you about Jude. It’s important.” 

Stef decides she wants her badge and gun and turns for the stairs when she hears a strange sound. It’s like a junk yard when the car gets crushed. She looks at the door and sees the handle crumple like paper. The door swings open as the man is holding the door knob in his hand but it is crumbled into a ball. He steps into the house and smiles at the remains of the door handle. “Sorry about that” he apologizes, "but we really do need to talk.”

Lena reaches for the phone when she sees the plant on the table suddenly start moving. The vines shoot out and wrap around her hand taking the phone out of her hand. She looks over and sees that Callie is being wrapped up in the vines, as is Stef. Her plant is taking her hostage!

The redhead smiles apologetically. “I really am sorry about this. I am actually a pacifist, but this is important.”

Jude and Jesus walk around the corner and see their sister and moms wrapped up by the plants and the two strangers standing there.

“Jude!” Callie yells “RUN!”

Both of the strangers turn to look at Jude. “I really wish you wouldn’t” the woman says “we just want to talk.”

Jesus jumps towards the man yelling “Talk to this!” and throws his fist at the man’s face. It felt like he punched a wall. He screams and falls back cradling his hand. Jude grabs him as he falls down. 

“Sorry about that” the man says with a smirk “but you really shouldn’t try to punch people you don’t know.”

Jude is angry. His family is under attack and he feels the cold coming back into him. He knows this feeling, he is now strong. He steps around Jesus and comes up to the smiling man, feeling both angry and scared. He looks at him like he doesn’t matter. “Kid, calm down, okay. We just need you to sit down.”

Jude doesn’t sit down. He channels all that fear he has been feeling and throws a punch like he just saw Jesus do. The difference is substantial. The man doesn’t just take Jude’s punch, he flies across the living room and smashes through the back window shattering the glass and part of the frame before smashing in to the table in the backyard.

“SHIT!” Jesus yells in admiration!

“WILL!” the woman screams. Jude looks over at her, surprised by his strength but feeling he can handle her when he sees her hair billowing out and and…is she glowing? Suddenly he hears an explosion behind him and he turns to see the plants in the back yard explode through the windows and doors and fly across the room wrapping him up like ropes. He struggles as she seems to control them. Jude feels the cold again and notices that the plants are reacting and he tries to make it colder.

The woman looks panicked. “What are you doing?” she yells fearfully as the plants holding Jude start browning and dying dropping him to the ground.

“ENOUGH” a voice yells. 

Jude looks over and sees the man standing up and brushing off pieces of the window, house, and table from his torn clothes. “Layla – please put everyone down. I’m fine. Haven’t been hit that hard in a while, but since I am pretty much invulnerable he didn’t hurt me.”

“You’re invulnerable?” Jude asks as the vines and plants start retreating from the house, letting everyone go.

“Yep” the man replies. “I inherited super-strength and invulnerability from my dad. I also inherited mom’s flight power.”

“You can fly?” Jesus asks stunned.

The man smiles. “Yes. And Layla can animate and control all plant life. And Jude, it seems that you have super strength and…what you did the plants, I am guessing some kind of cold powers maybe?” he asks Jude.

“You aren’t surprised” Stef says now that she is free.

“No” Layla tells her. “We have been watching both Jude and Callie for some time to see if they had powers. We were able to rule out Callie earlier this year, but we weren’t sure about Jude.”

“How did you rule me out?” Callie asked. “Actually, bigger question, why did you think I had powers at all?”

“We ruled you out because we intercepted your DNA test you took as part of the paternity test you did with Robert Quinn. We were able to determine that while you have the gene for powers, it’s not active, though you do carry it” Layla explained.

“What does that mean?” Callie said nervously.

“It means” Will said “while you won’t have powers barring something extraordinary your kids might. But we weren’t able to test Jude, so we had to just watch.”

“But why did you think they had powers at all?” Mariana asked.

“Because their mom did” Will explained.

“WHAT!?” Jude and Callie yelled together.

“Your mom was a super” Layla explained. “She went inactive about 17 years ago, but no one knew why till about 7 years ago. She came to us and told us that she had two children and she wanted to arrange for them to be tested. She was worried that they might have inherited her powers. We agreed, but then she never called back. We later figured out that she died right after speaking with us. But she was very secretive, we didn’t have her real identity. So we had to try and find two kids with little to go on. And with so little to work on, we struggled to figure out where you were.”

“It took us until last year to finally find you and by then you were here, so we decided to wait and see” Will explained. “We knew that Callie was old enough for any powers to show up, but Jude was still too young. We figured just to leave it alone unless it was necessary. We were able to rule out Callie when we got the test. But then a few days ago we got a powerful energy spike near your school and we tracked it down, but we weren’t sure if it was Jude. So we started watching closer and then it happened again last night, stronger than before. So we knew and came over.”

“You said my mom was a super” Jude asked them “then how did she die in a car crash?” 

“Her powers were similar to yours, but not exactly. She was strong, but not as strong as you are now and that may not even be your top level. She was best known for her ability to travel through shadows – it allowed her to walk through walls and get in places” Layla explained.

“I think I did that too” Jude said softly. Everyone looked at him concerned. 

“Jude, honey…what do you mean?” Stef asked carefully.

“The first time I was strong, at the beach, I just wanted to go home and the suddenly everything was black and I could see the house. I just took a step and was in my room. That is why I wasn’t at the school that day” he explained looking at Lena. “But I passed out right after and kind of forgot.”

Layla and Will looked at each other concerned.

“What? What is it?” Callie said to them having seen that look. 

Will looked at Callie and smiled carefully. “We are not sure. Powers are sometimes unique and sometimes connected. For example, I have three distinct powers – flight, strength, and invulnerability. Layla has one – her ability to control and animate plants are actually the same thing. Some powers manifest in multiple ways, so what looks like several different powers are actually just one. What we don’t know is how Jude’s powers work. Is his strength, cold, and traveling all different powers or just one. That is something we can help him learn.”

“It’s about power levels as well” Layla adds. “Some powers are small or limited. One of my good friends can shapeshift, but only into a guinea pig. Another can glow, but only in the dark. Both of those abilities are limited, but if used right at the right time they can be great. We used to train people to be heroes or sidekicks, but now we look at power levels to teach responsible power use regardless of what you have. We also help you learn to maximize your powers whatever they are. That is what our school does.”

“You said an educational opportunity” Stef interrupts “so it’s a school?”

“Yes” Will says with a smile. “It is a school for kids who are supers. Those with powers. We test the kids to find out their power level and then teach them to control and use their powers, along with regular high school stuff. But, well our gym classes are kind of more intense.” He laughs. “And let me tell you, super powered dodgeball is a blast!”

Layla sniffs in disapproval. “For some.” She says looking at Will with an affectionate smile. “But we also are dedicated to providing a safe place for our students to discover themselves. Having powers doesn’t spare you from the typical teenage drama, we just have more safeguards in place. Like when someone destroys the cafeteria during their freshman year by throwing other students through walls and busting up tables” she says smirking at Will.

“He started it!” Will protests feebly. He looks over at Jude “I didn’t even have my super strength when the fight started” he explains “it turned on halfway through. Really surprised Warren though when I picked up the table he was standing on and tossed him through Professor Medulla’s office wall” he was smiling.

“Cool” Jesus laughs “then what happened?”

“He tossed a fireball at me, but I broke a fire extinguisher in half and snuffed him out. Then the principal caught us and we got detention in the box” he was still laughing.

“The box?” Lena said concerned.

“Student’s call it the box” Layla explained. “Officially, it is the detention room. It has a power field on it – no powers work inside it.” Layla laughed at Will, “it was almost a second home for you, right Will?”

“Hey! It was never my fault. You were the one that wanted real Chinese food for lunch. I got busted for flying to Beijing to get us lunch that one time!” Will protested.

Jude laughed suddenly feeling better. “What’s this school called?”

Will looked over at him “Sky High West.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Okay, this is a lot to take in” Stef says trying to deal with all of this. “Especially with half of the back of the house gone.”

“Sorry about that” Will says sheepishly. “I can take care of that.” He pulls out a phone and dials a number “Hey. It’s Will Stronghold. I need a repair team at my current location and a transport install team too. (pause) Window, side of house, backyard (pause) No, we can take care of that (pause) Great! Thanks!” He hangs up. “Repair team on the way. Layla can you take care of the yard?”

“Sure” Layla says with a smile and walks to the back of the house. Lena goes with her and sees the grass and bushes destroyed from where Will smashed into it. Frankie’s tree wasn’t touched. Layla holds out her hand the damage seems to disappear. The grass regrows and covers the holes, the bushes all repair themselves and in seconds you can’t tell anything has happened.

“Maybe we should move to the kitchen to talk” Stef offers. 

They all go and sit around the island. “Can you tell us more about this school Layla?” Lena asks.

“Sky High West is the Western US campus of Sky High. Like we said, it is a school for students with powers. You start with power placement. Which is MUCH better than we went through it. You get tested and scanned by some of the best tech in the world. When that is analyzed you get placed into your power level and trained accordingly” she tells them.

“Power level?” Mariana asks but she is really interested in the tech.

“Supers are classified into five power levels” Will explains. “Level 1 Powers are minimal. Very limited in general, but useful and demonstrable. Our friend Zach, the guy who glows, is a Level 1. He is currently working with a Search and Rescue team. Especially great in places with gas issues because his glow isn’t flammable. A Level 2 Power is stronger and more useful, but not as broad in its use. Usually a Level 2 Power involves something more visible. One girl at our school could remove all friction from any surface she touched to about 20 feet. It was a great power, but limited.”

“Level 3 powers are the most common” Layla Continued. “Many Supers you heard of are Level 3. Electro, Fist of Fury, and Ice-Cap are all Level 3 Powers. They are very useful, greater range and applicability. Level 4 powers are rare and their wielders are really impressive in scope and use. Both the Commander and Jetstream are Level 4 Supers.”

“But they are the best heroes in the world” Jesus protested. “How come they are only Level 4, not 5?”

“It’s not the Power Level that makes the hero” Will says sincerely “it’s how they use it. My parents are Level 4, but they use their abilities to the max and they trained and are skilled. They are heroes because of what they do.”

“WAIT!” Jude yells excitedly. “Your parents are the Commander and Jetstream!?!” Jude is suddenly starstruck.

The others are all looking at Will differently and he sighs. “I always mess up that secret identity thing” he groans. Layla laughs at him.

“Yes Jude” he says looking at the excited boy almost bouncing in front of him “they are my parents.”

“Are you a hero too?” Jesus asks.

Layla smirks at Will and watches him squirm. “Yes. In costume, I am Sentinel” he answers Jesus but he is looking at Jude who suddenly is struck silent. Sentinel showed up about 5 years ago, one of the newest heroes, but he is already known world-wide. He has averted natural disasters, battled bad guys, and works with the Commander and Jetstream. He is said to be stronger than the Commander!”

“Oh wow” Mariana whispers also stunned.

Stef and Lena look at each other and their kids suddenly realizing how out of their depth they are. Stef has heard of Sentinel, who hasn’t? He saved LA twice from evil Supers and was actually someone they could call for help. 

“Back to the school?” Layla suggested. Everyone sat back down nodding. “Level 5 is the highest level of Power. They are VERY rare, usually only coming along every couple of years. The last one was nearly 10 years ago.”

“Who?” Jude and Jesus both asked. 

Will looked embarrassed “Me.”

Jude was developing a serious case of hero worship. Will was awesome.

“Hey? If you are stronger than the Commander and Jude knocked you across the house, does that mean he is stronger than you?” Jesus asked.

Everyone looked shocked at Jude who suddenly shrunk down in his seat. “Not sure” Will said with a smile, “but I wasn’t braced, actually the opposite since I didn’t want him to get hurt. So once I shifted my balance, a regular person could have knocked me down. It didn’t hurt and they wouldn't have hurt themselves. But after Jesus hit me I loosened up so we will just have to see” he said smiling. “You never know.”

“Where is this school?” Callie asked trying to deal with all of this.

“Actually that is a secret” Will tells her. “It is a flying school. Hidden from radar and visual detection. We move it around normally. Right now it is closer to San Francisco than here, and that’s all I will say.”

“But how will Jude go there? Is it a boarding school?” Callie was even more unhappy with this.

Layla laughed. “No. It’s a regular school, Jude would come home every day. Getting there…” she is interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

Stef goes to the door and opening it, which is easy because the knob is gone, and saw four people in overalls with bags and boxes standing there. “Can I help you?” she asks nervously.

“Hi ma’am” the guy in front says to her “you called for a repair crew?” Will walks up and smiles.

“Hey team! The front door and the back side of the house” he tells them.

“On it!” they all come in the house and start for the living room. 

Stef looks confused, and is about to say something when she sees the woman walk up to the window and touch a piece of glass still there and it starts to glow. Suddenly all the glass fragments start jumping up and in a few seconds the window reforms and the cracks all disappear. They are Supers!

“This is our repair team” Will explains. “They will put your house to right in just a few.”

“But they also need to install the transport. Do you have a closet we could use?” Will asks Stef.

“What?” she is confused. “We need to install the transport pad. Usually we use a closet so others can’t tell.”

Moving like a Zombie, she heads towards the garage. There is a utility closet off the side that is used for storage. Will looks happy and starts emptying it out, moving the stuff in the garage. He is lifting stuff like it weighs nothing…right super strength.

The crew walks in to the kitchen passed the stunned Adams-Fosters whose living room is now looking perfect. “Where are we putting the transport?” they ask. Will shows them the closet and they start assembling the machinery in the boxes.

“What are they doing?” Mariana asks them. 

“To get students to Sky High we used to use flying school buses” she starts and chuckles at the looks on their faces to that. “We did. Now we use a teleport system. That allows students from all over to attend. Jude will step in, get teleported to Sky High for class and back at the end of the day. No fuss, no muss.”

“Cool” Jesus says. 

“So I can stay here with C…my family” Jude says smiling.

Mariana smirks because she is pretty sure he wasn’t going to say Callie.

“Of course” Will replies. “Back to the plan though. You will come for Placement testing tomorrow, that’s Friday. You can bring a parent with you. Then on Monday, you will come for Orientation. Based on the numbers, we will have two Orientation Groups and you are in Group B. You will go through Orientation. Before lunch you will get placed in your class groups according to your Power Level. Then the rest of the day you will complete Orientation with that group. You will get your class schedules and they will answer any questions. Then classes start on Tuesday.”

They are stunned. Jude looks over at Stef and Lena before looking back at Will. “So I have to leave Anchor Beach?” he asks concerned.

Lena and Stef put their arms around Jude. “Only if you want to go honey” Lena tells him. Stef sighs causing both Jude and Lena to look at her. 

“Sorry love” she tells Lena “but I think you really need to go Jude. I have seen what happens to Supers who don’t know their powers or use them badly. You can’t get that help at Anchor Beach” she tells him. 

Jude nods knowing she is right but hating it anyway. He loves his school and being able to go with all of his siblings and especially Connor. But with Connor moving to LA, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea. “What do we tell people about it?” Jude asks. “When they ask where I am going?”

“We have a number of cover charter schools we use. We will say you got chance to go to experimental school, very limited enrollment of less than 100 students, but you can’t tell anyone outside your family the truth” Layla warns him. “No one. I know you may have close friends, but your secret is what protects not only you, but your family. One person slips and someone may target your sisters or moms to get to you. Especially considering…” she pauses and looks at Jude.

“Especially considering what?” Stef asks suddenly defensive.

“Your mom” Will answers.

“Why would our mom be an issue?” Callie asks angrily.

Layla sighs and takes a deep breath. “We are not 100% sure, mainly because your mom was so good at what she did, but we are pretty sure that she was one of the best thieves on the planet in her heyday.”

“WHAT?!” Jude and Callie yell together.

“Yeah” Will apologizes. “Based on what we have been able to figure out, we believe she was an international spy, possibly an assassin but not confirmed, and a thief. No one even knew she was a she. Everyone thought she was a man to be honest.”

“What do you mean?” Jude asks.

“Have you ever heard of ‘Shadow Walker’?” Layla asks.

Stef gasps causing everyone to look at her. “He, I mean she I guess, is a legend. A myth. He, she, would steal art, industrial secrets, you name it from the most impenetrable places on Earth. Her favorite target were corrupt men and women as well as companies. Shadow Walker was wanted by everyone even though no one had even the slightest idea what he looked like.”

Jude and Callie couldn’t believe it. They didn’t think of their mother as an internationally wanted super thief. 

“Why do you think she was Shadow Walker?” Callie asked carefully.

“Besides the similarity in powers?” Will asked. “Well we found some evidence that the last target of the Shadow Walker was a company that was involved in some less than, shall we say, legitimate business dealings. Quinn Industries.”

“My dad’s company?” Callie was stunned.

“Well 17 years ago, it was probably your grandfather’s company, but yes” Will told her. 

Jude and Callie were stunned. Stef looked at Jude and cleared her throat. “Then no one outside this room, with the exception of Brandon, will know. That includes Mike, Donald, Robert and Sophia, the grandparents, and…Connor.” Jude looks upset but Lena puts her hand on his “Jude, I’m sorry, but this is serious” Lena tells him.

Jude doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t want his family or Connor hurt by someone trying to get to him. He agrees.

“Then we will see you at Sky High tomorrow” Will and Layla stand up and take Jude to the now complete teleport chamber and show them how to use it. Then they and the team head out after saying goodbye. The family talks a bit and after another large lunch, but not as bad as breakfast was, Jude goes upstairs to call Connor.

 **Jude:** hey, you there?

It only takes a few moments for Connor to respond. 

**Connor:** Hey Jude ;) Missing you!

 **Jude:** how’s Seattle? Looking forward to you getting back. 

(pause)

 **Connor:** Our trip got delayed. We will be here till next weekend. Sorry!

Jude is stunned. Next week was Connor’s last before moving to LA. He wasn’t going to be here till Saturday and then move. Their time is gone now?

 **Jude:** it’s okay. Just hoping to see you before you moved.

 **Connor** : You will! I will be going to LA on Sunday, but we will be back there on Friday. Also made mom and dad promise that I can spend Labor Day weekend with you to make up for this.

Jude smiled, he was coming back for him. It wasn’t a week, but maybe that was for the best. He needed to learn to control his powers before they spent a lot of time together. Connor would be able to tell something was up.

They continued to text for over an hour about nothing before they went to bed. 

The next morning Jude was nervous but excited. He walked into the kitchen and saw Lena dressed nice and Stef in uniform. 

“Jude, Mama is going with you today since I have to work. Don’t be nervous or scared, you will be great!” Stef said with a smile.  
Jude and Lena stepped onto the transport platform. “Ready Jude?” Lena asked him. He nodded and hit the button. A flash and they were gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Jude looked around not sure what to expect, but the plain white room wasn’t it. He stepped down from the platform and saw Lena stepping down as well. They looked around and saw a young man standing at a console smiling at them. 

“Adams-Foster?” the young man asked. “I am Transport specialist Jones, but you can call me Bill. Welcome to Sky High!”

The doors to the side open and they see Layla walk in smiling. “Hi Jude, Lena. Welcome” she said.

“Thank you” Lena said. “That was definitely different” she referred to their transportation. 

Layla smiled “You should have seen the school buses. Like a roller coaster and rocket ship combined in one. This is so much better…less exciting maybe…but allows Sky High to enroll students across the West Coast. You ready for your tour?”

Jude just nods, still not believing he is here. They walk out and Layla starts describing the school. They are both surprised by how…normal it looks. The transport building is outside the school so they walk outside and realize that they are currently in the sky by the clouds surrounding them. Walking up to the school there is not a lot of people here as school hasn’t started yet.

Just when he thinks it is normal, Jude sees two students come out of the main doors and the girl is flying! The boy, about Jesus’s age, suddenly drops to all fours and blurs suddenly and a large wolf is standing there. Holy Twilight! Jude thinks.

Layla shows them around the school and it is pretty normal. There are classrooms, the cafeteria, and the library. The halls are lined with lockers and they see the administration office with no real surprises. Then they are blown away. They walk into the tech lab and Jude wonders if NASA has this much tech! It looks more like Star Wars than high school. They see more labs that they don’t understand, Lena really hopes that Layla was kidding about the death ray class.

They walk into a room that looks over the gym and Jude sees a group of four older kids stretching on the floor. “Why do you have an observation room for the gym?” Lena asks Layla.

“Just watch” Layla smiles “and don’t worry, the glass on the wall is not only bulletproof, it’s also pretty much everything proof.”

Jude and Lena look skeptical about that and then all of sudden they aren’t worrying about the glass anymore. The gym explodes in insanity. There are buzzsaws, flamethrowers, giant metal balls, and more things than Jude can describe. It’s like a crazy death trap from a comic book. But what’s even more amazing is the students down in the gym. One of the two guys is on fire blasting anything coming near him. The blonde girl is a blur, spinning like a top she is flashing across the floor smashing into stuff. The other guy suddenly grew and is about 15 feet (5 meters) tall and appears super strong. The last girl, the brunette, sprouted butterfly wings and is flying around in a blur. It is so AWESOME!!! Jude thinks.

“They are doing team training” Layla explains. “Seniors area allowed to use the gym during down times to hone their skills. This group is pretty good, but let’s mix it up.” She smiles and reaches over and types in a code at a terminal. Suddenly a row of doors open along one wall and jets of water blast out across the gym knocking down both girls and the guy on fire. The giant is able to stay up but he was blasted in the face. They manage to recover, but are working harder now than they were before.

Layla smiles and turns toward Jude and Lena “There are safety protocols in the gym that limit injuries, but it’s not harmless. Broken bones, burns, and other injuries are possible so normally most students are not allowed to work without supervision. These four are pretty advanced though.” She turns and leads them out of the room.

“It is time to get you to Placement” Layla tells them as they walk out. 

Moving to the second floor over the main office, Layla tells them that Placement testing is connected with the infirmary so they are able to see the rather large facility. “This place is huge, like an ER. Is it really needed?” Lena asks nervously.

“Honestly?” Layla says looking at her. “Yes. Supers are pretty tough, which encourages them to take greater risks and as a result they get hurt. Besides, if you are going to be a super, you need to be prepared and we can’t go easy on you. A couple of days in the infirmary here is better than getting killed by a super-powered psychopath out there.”

Lena looked nervous as they walked into the Placement Center. Layla led Jude into a room with a chair that looked like a dentist chair. “Jude, you will be in this room for the next three hours. The tester will be in and will do a number of diagnostic scans. We will take medical information, including some samples that will help you determine your power levels. When you finish, you will go to the testing room where they will have you demonstrate your powers. Do you have questions?”

Jude didn’t so they left him there. The testing was pretty boring to be honest. They drew blood and ran all these machines over him. The tester was nice, but distant. She smiled at the end as they led him to the testing room. Once there Jude was pushed to bring forth his powers and they tested his strength and other elements of his power. He actually managed to break two different machines which caused him significant embarrassment until they told him that typically something gets broken every week or so.

They finally finished and Layla escorted them back to the transport center. “Now it will take a while to determine your Placement Jude” Layla told him, “but based on preliminary tests, we can confirm you are at least at Level 3. So, pending the final determination, we are able to start figuring out your schedule. You will need to be here Monday at 7:30am, Lena I’m sorry but you cannot come at this time.”

“Why not?” Lena asked concerned.

“Privacy” Layla said simply. “The other students are entitled to avoid having adults they don’t know find out about their powers. So parents can come, but only during open visitation times when students can choose to stay away to protect their anonymity.”

“That makes sense” Jude said. 

“So the only thing left is to pick your fake name” Layla told him. 

“What do you mean?” Len asked again.

“Some students will use a fake name while at school to help protect their identity since we don’t really wear masks here. Not everyone does it, a lot don’t, and most typically use their real first name and a fake last one, but it is up to you to decide. This way if you do go into the “cape business” your whole high school won’t know your identity” Layla says. “It’s not perfect, trust me, but…well every little bit helps.”

Jude pauses for a while and looks at Lena. “If you think it’s okay, I think I would just like to be me: Jude Adams-Foster.” Lena smiles at him. “I think whatever you want is fine Jude” Lena tells him. Looking at Layla she asks “How many students would you guess use their real names?”

“About 75%” she tells them. “Between social media and all that, it’s just hard to keep that stuff secret anymore in the community.”

Jude decides to go with his own name and then they are back at the transport pad. A flash later and they are walking out of the closet at home to an anxious family looking for the details.

**_Later that day_ **

Jude is sitting in bed waiting to hear from Connor when his phone goes off.

 **Connor:** Hey Babe!

 **Jude:** r u back?!?!

Pause…

 **Connor:** I’m so sorry!!!

 **Jude:** Why, what’s wrong.

 **Connor:** our flight got all messed up. We can’t leave till Sunday, so I have to go straight to LA. Won’t be coming back to SD till Labor Day. 

Jude was stunned. He hadn’t seen Connor in weeks and now it was going to be even more weeks till he could see him.

 **Connor:** I’m so sorry Jude, please forgive me!!

 **Connor:** Babe? You there?

 **Jude:** Yeah…just a bit shocked tbh. Know it’s not your fault, but still sad

 **Connor:** I miss you so much. I wouldn’t have gone with my dad if I had known this would happen. 

**Jude:** Why did you go to Seattle?

 **Connor:** He took me to see my mom’s parents about a family issue. Kinda awkward tbh. Grandpa was…different.

 **Jude:** how so?

 **Connor:** crazy? Nuts? Whack job? Take your pick. Kept going on about the war. Kinda scary. But he did help me with some stuff. 

**Jude:** What stuff?

 **Connor:** Told him about you.

 **Jude:** what’d he say?

 **Connor:** shocked at first, but then talked about a friend who was gay back when he was young. Actually was pretty cool about it.  
   
**Connor:** Dang. Dad says I gotta run. Talk to you Sunday? LU!

 **Jude:** LU2

Jude lay back on the bed depressed. He wasn’t going to get to see Connor for a while and that sucked. Then he smirked a bit. Of course with the way his powers were developing, Connor was in for a surprise when he next saw Jude.

_**Saturday Morning** _

Jude came down and saw the rest of the family gathered around the kitchen table eating. He was surprised to see everyone still here. Normally everyone was out doing things with others. He didn’t get to see everyone last night as he crashed after they got back. He woke up long enough to grab something to eat before talking with Connor and then sleeping again.

“Morning honey” Stef said sipping her coffee. Everyone was watching him looking excited.

“Morning” Jude replied uncertainly. “What’s going on?”

“Dude” Jesus says looking like he is about to burst “you have to tell us what happened.”

Jude looked at his excited face and saw similar expressions on Mariana and Brandon, Callie still looked nervous and Stef was calm, but he could see she was interested. Lena just smiled reassuringly.

So he told them about the school and how it floated in the air, the labs and the super gym and everything they saw.

“How come people don’t notice it?” Mariana asked.

“They have a cloaking field” Lena explained. “Layla explained that while Jude was being tested. The school is invisible to radar and normal sight until you get within about 100 yards (100 meters). It’s pretty cool, to be honest.”

“What about your tests?” Brandon asked. “Were they able to explain anything about it yet?”

“Well, they told me that they could make some preliminary headway, but to really understand it, it would take some time. But Jesus was right about one thing” Jude told his surprised brother “my powers are causing me to become stronger even without my shadow boost. I was able to lift over 200 pounds (90 Kilo) during one test pretty easily. They think I will get stronger as I get older. But when I go all ‘shadow Jude’ I am a lot stronger” Jude explains.

“Shadow Jude, I like that!” Jesus says. “How strong?”

“Well, they weren’t sure, but I was able to lift about 2,500 pounds (1,100 kilo) and they think that is my low end” Jude told them.

“Damn!” Jesus whistled “You can lift over a ton?”

“So far, they don’t think I am using my full strength yet. Apparently my powers are different based on light. When it is bright and sunny, I can absorb that light and it makes me stronger. But at night, I am weaker, but I can step into shadows” he explains.

“What do you mean?” Stef asks. Jude smiles and since they are inside he is able to act. The family sees Jude’s eyes go black and a shadow wraps him for a moment before he is gone. They jump up when Stef hears “BOO” behind her and she screams.

Jude is standing behind her laughing. 

“How did you do that?” Jesus asks laughing.

“It’s hard to describe. You know in Lord of the Rings when Frodo put on the ring and turned invisible but he saw the world differently? It’s kinda like that for me. I can step into shadows and move around, but instead of invisible, I am like a shadow. I can’t touch anything or be touched, but I can go anywhere. It’s really cool. Layla said that they have to analyze my results, but she did know that I was at least a level 3 Super” Jude said excited.

“So, does that mean you will be fighting crazy people?” Callie asked, fear written on her face.

Jude looks and her and sees the worry and fear on her face. “I don’t know” he says “but I will how to use my powers. I don’t know what I will do with them, maybe nothing. But I want to be able to control it, not be controlled.” Jude looks at his sister and goes over and hugs her closely “There is some good news too” he tells her. “It looks like I am a lot harder to hurt now.”

Callie looks confused “What do you mean?”

“Apparently the shadows act as a form of armor, even if I am not trying. They broke several needles trying to get a blood sample. They had to use special equipment. I’m not quite bullet proof, but they think it’s probably not outside the realm of possibility” he tells her.

The rest of the weekend goes by quickly and it is Sunday night when Jude’s phone dings.

 **Connor:** Hey babe! Good luck on your first day tomorrow.

 **Jude:** Thanks. Miss you so much. You ready for your school? 

**Connor:** Well, things got kind of crazy here. 

**Jude:** What do you mean?

 **Connor:** Dad and mom got me a test with this magnet school that works with athletes. Lots of special stuff for them and I got admitted. It’s really cool tbh. I got to check it out on Friday. They have amazing stuff. Even got a scholarship. Kids are really determined, but should be good for me.

 **Jude:** That’s good…right?

 **Connor:** Yeah. It is. Gonna miss you though. Just two weeks till I get to see you though. You better have some stuff planned. BTW – told dad I am spending the whole weekend with you, so be prepared! 

**Jude:** :) <3 LU

 **Connor:** LU2. Got to get to sleep. Talk to you tomorrow?

 **Jude:** Definitely!

Jude went to sleep glad in some ways he didn’t have to lie about school. If Connor was still here, he would have to lie about not being at Anchor Beach and that was going to be hard. He still didn’t know how to explain it when he found out.

_**Monday Morning** _

Jude finished his breakfast and after lots of hugs he stepped into the closet (ha ha) and in a flash was back at the transport center. Only this time there were lots of other kids popping in. 

“Morning Jude” Bill said remembering him. “You need to go outside and look for the girl with the sign saying ‘B Orientation’ to get to where you are going.”

Jude walked out and saw lots of students and it was amazing. Several of them were flying, others were using their powers and he saw a group to his left and a guy hold a sign that said ‘A Orientation’. Looking to his right he saw another group a bit away and the older girl with that group had the sign with ‘B Orientation’ so he headed over there.

Walking up to the group, Jude noticed that there were about eight other kids his age. The girl with the sign smiled at him “Name?” she asked in a friendly way. 

“Jude Adams-Foster” Jude replied.

She looked at her tablet and smiled “Great” she said with a smile. “I am Rachel, your Orientation Leader. If you hold on, we are just waiting for two more students.”

Jude walked over to a boy about his age who was talking with two girls. “Hi” one of the girls said. “I’m Angie.”

"Hi…Jude” he replied.

“Alexandria, but call me Alex” the blonde girl replied.

“Wayne” the boy replied.

“So, are you a legacy or a newb?” Angie asked him.

“I…I don’t understand” Jude replied.

“Did you get your powers from your parents or some other way” Angie explained. “My mom has powers. Alexandria got hers from her dad. Wayne’s father is a scientist who had an oops and then he had powers, so he’s a newb.”

“Oh, I guess legacy. They think my mom had powers” Jude replied.

“Think?” Alex asks confused.

“She died when I was six. I was adopted and my moms don’t have powers” Jude clarified.

“Moms?” Wayne asked. “You from San Francisco?”

“No” Jude replies with a frown. “There are gay people outside of San Francisco.”

“Oh right, sorry” Wayne looks embarrassed. “Sorry. This is all really new to me.”

“Me too” Jude tells him. “I only found out I had powers a few days ago. It was a surprise for my whole family.”

Alex & Angie laugh at that. “I bet it was a surprise to suddenly discover that” Angie said sympathetically. 

“So what’s everyone’s powers?” Wayne asked with a smile. 

“What’s yours?” Alex asked him back.

“Computer Path” Wayne said. “I can read computers like a telepath can read minds. Really cool, huh?”

“Not bad” Angie said with a smile. “Did you get a Power level rating?”

“Not yet” Wayne said “They did say I wasn’t a Level 1. What about you?”

“I am a shapeshifter” Angie told them “but limited.” Suddenly her hair changed color as did her eyes and suddenly her skin tone shifted to a more tan. It looked like she was wearing makeup even though she wasn’t.

“That’s cool” Wayne said impressed.

“Not really” Angie laughed “it’s a low power level, 1 or 2 at best, but they think I might be able to change my facial structure with work but otherwise I basically never have to buy makeup, lipstick, or nail polish” she laughs as she holds up her fingers and they watch as her fingernails all shift colors like a rainbow “but it qualifies.” She looks at Angie.

“Well my dad is a healer” Alex tells them. “But I can’t fix anyone, but I can do something. If I touch someone, I can block all their pain receptors so that they aren’t feeling pain anymore. It’s not much, Level 1 probably, but I hope to get medical training so I can work with a team to help in emergencies.”

“That’s really cool” Jude says sincerely. “That could really help people.”

“What about you Jude” Wayne asks him.

“Uh…super strength and a kind of teleportation” he tells them.

“Really?” Wayne looks at him disbelievingly. “You don’t look that strong.”

Angie laughs. “Don’t trust looks Wayne. Strength is not just muscles. Some Supers have it without them. How much can you lift right now Jude?” she asks him.

“About 2,500 pounds” Jude answers. Wayne’s jaw drops and Jude smiles slightly at his disbelief. 

“See” Angie tells them “don’t judge packages as Sky High. Did you get your power level yet?”

“No. I just did the tests on Friday. They did say I was at least Level 3, but not sure what that means” Jude tells them.

Alex whistles. “That means that you are powerful. At least Level 3 could be a 4. Not too bad.”

They are interrupted by Rachel calling them to order. “Hello everyone. It is time for your campus Orientation and tour. Now, you may have gotten a brief tour during your testing, but we will see a lot more. It will take about 1 ½ hours to tour and then we will do another 1 ½ hours of briefings before we go to Placement with the other Orientation Group. Since the A Group is touring first, we do briefing. Follow me.”

The eleven of them follow Rachel into a room where they are told about the student code, emergency procedures, and the schedule for the year. They go over the history of the school and how it is run and they explain some more about placement and classes. It surprises Jude how quickly the time passes and then they are off on their tour. They get to see a lot more of the school and Jude is glad that his mama didn’t see all of it. He doesn’t know what she would think of the Armory, robot sparring partners, and the obstacle course that had real guns. The labs had real lasers that were crazy and the passed one lab right before an explosion blew the door off the room. Amazingly Rachel barely blinked and assured them that everyone was fine…or would be.

They ended the tour and entered the gym to sit down. The other group was already sitting down and there were about 15 people in that group, but Jude didn’t really see them. He was at the end of their group so he wasn’t really paying attention.

At the floor there were three adults standing there including Layla. “Students” Layla called them to attention. “We will be sorting you into Power Level Classifications. Please come up when we call your names.”

The first group was the Power Level 1’s which was made up of 4 students, including Alex. The next group was the Level 2’s and included Angie along with 5 others. Wayne was really excited. He was so happy he wasn’t a level 2.

Another older man walked out to join the three people standing there and one of the boys from their group started whispering to his friend. “That’s Professor Sampson. He only trains Level 5 students. We must have one. This is so cool.”

Wayne looks at Jude “I didn’t think there were any Level 5’s in school.”

“Layla said the last one was 10 years ago” Jude whispered back. Jude looked up and noticed that there were dozens of people watching the placement from the observation windows. “Looks like we are the show” he says pointing out the viewers to Wayne. 

“Students” the bald man on the floor says “as some of you know, Professor Sampson works with our Level 5 students when we have them. And your class does. We are very excited to welcome the first Level 5 student to Sky High in 10 years. Mr. Stevens, please come forward.”

Jude feels his heart race. What did he say? He turns and notices a blonde head stand up from the other group to much applause from the other students as he walks forward. He can’t see his face, but he knows that body. “Connor” he whispers as Connor Stevens, his Connor!, turns around to smile at his group. Jude suddenly realizes that Connor must have been being tested just like he was, that was why he was delayed coming back. His story of the sports school was his cover. He smiled when he realized that even with Connor moving , he was going to get to go to school with Connor after all!

Professor Sampson shakes Connor’s hand and Layla calls the group’s attention back.

“Expect the unexpected at Sky High” she said with a gentle smile. “Connor is the first Level 5 in 10 years, but he isn’t the only one. We have a second Level 5 in your class.” The whole class starts whispering and Jude can even hear the people above talking. The other adults looked stunned but Professor Sampson is smiling. “Jude” Layla said looking right at him “would you please join us?”

Wayne turns to him with a huge smile and a push as Jude stands up and walks towards Layla, but he isn’t looking at her or any of the other adults. He is only looking at the stunned face with the hazel eyes that are staring at him in shock. He smiles as Connor gets a huge grin on his face and he starts for Jude. They come together about halfway towards the floor as Connor runs up grabs him a giant hug.

“Jude ” he whispers into his ear while smiling at his boyfriend.

“Going to an Athletic school huh?” Jude teases him.

Connor looks joyously at the boy in front of him. “Oh shut up” he smiles and pulls him in for a big kiss in front of the entire school. Jude kisses back laughing inside as he thinks they don't need Taylor to let everyone know that they are together this time.

“Oh my” Jude hears Layla’s voice. “This is unexpected.”


	6. Chapter 6

Jude pulls away from Connor with a blush and looks over at Layla who is standing there surprised. “Sorry” Jude says with a sly smile “got a little carried away.” He tried to step back but Connor had grabbed his hand and held on. Jude looked over at their classmates and saw the shock and surprise on their faces.

“Jude…Connor…something you would like to share?” Layla asked them.

“Jude is my boyfriend” Connor said clearly so everyone could hear. “Neither of knew the other was coming here or even had powers” he said and looked at Jude “this is so great!” 

Jude laughed “What’s great is that even though you moved, we are still getting to go to school together.” Connor’s smile got bigger, he hadn’t put that together and the realization that he would be able see Jude almost every day was wonderful.

“AHEM” the man next to Layla said loudly “this is all great, congratulations. However, I do need to do my own assessment of your powers. I am Professor Sampson and I work with high level Supers, including any level 5's, and while your tests indicated that, I would like to confirm that fact. Please come with me.” Professor Sampson walked away from the group and when Jude looked at Layla she indicated she should follow him. 

Connor and Jude followed Professor Sampson into a side room off of the gym where he turned around to address them. “I will explain. My powers are the only ones that have not been ranked. Normally I have no power at all. But if I touch a Super, I can duplicate whatever their power is for 5 minutes. So while I can copy a Level 5, it’s not for long enough to be useful in combat, but it very useful in teaching. So we will begin. Mr. Stevens, you first.” He held out his hand to Connor.

Connor looked at Jude and smiled confidently before walking over and touching Professor Sampson’s hand. All of a sudden Professor Sampson smiled and started glowing.

“Ah…you have solar powers. Capable of generating heat and light on a massive scale. Super strength and near invulnerability” Sampson catalogued Connor’s abilities and then he lifted off the ground and hovered about 6 feet (2 meters) off the ground. “Flight, super speed, and increased stamina. Your body seems to be operating like a fusion generator creating energy. You don’t need oxygen or food to function and have almost total immunity to disease.” His eyes glowed and two beams shot out across the room before colliding with a metal wall and the wall started glowing and melting. “Capable of generating high energy lasers from eyes and hands” his hands glowed and blasted across the room. “Definitely Level 5. I will accept you as a student Mr. Stevens.” Sampson touched the ground and stopped glowing. He looked at Connor. “Very impressive set of powers Mr. Stevens, you have potential.”

Professor Sampson turned towards Jude and looked less excited. Connor’s powers were amazing. Flight and super strength? Lasers and glowing. That was amazing. Nervous Jude reached out and touched the professor’s outstretched hand.

Where before he had lit up, this time he went dark. His eyes turned black and the entire room got darker and a bit cooler. “Powers are based on shadows and light. The greater the light the greater the strength, but even in dark your strength is exceptional. High level of defense, not as invulnerable as Mr. Stevens, but still noteworthy.” Suddenly Professor Sampson went totally dark and vanished. Jude and Connor looked at each other surprised when the professor suddenly appeared on the other side of the room. “Transdimensional travel abilities. Able to shift to quantum state out of sync with our universe to travel through any barriers or defenses. Able to locate locations and individuals through this state. Able to pull others and items into altered state to move them.” Sampson suddenly gestured and the shadows in the room all shifted towards him and slid across the floor. “Ability to exert a degree of control of individuals and systems by operating through phased state allowing for ability to see things hidden by others.” Sampson looked thoughtful and turned to Connor “Mr. Stevens. Please generate as much heat and light as you can and direct it at me.”

Connor shrugged and started to glow and he did for about 5 seconds before the light suddenly, for lack of a better word, drained away towards the professor. “As you absorb light, you become stronger and tougher with increased speed and reflexes. Please stop Mr. Stevens.”

Connor stopped and suddenly Sampson was back to normal. He looked surprised at Jude. “You are also definitely a Level 5 as well. To be honest, I felt that there must have been an error and one of you were incorrectly categorized, but I was wrong. You are both very powerful and what is even more interesting, your powers are balanced and complimentary. Mr. Stevens, you can boost Mr. Foster’s strength and power with your energy while he can absorb your energy allowing you to let loose without harming those around you. If you operate together, you will be a rather formidable pair.” For the first time he smiled. “I will speak with Layla about your schedule. Go to lunch and you will get your afternoon assignments there.” He walked out without another word.

Connor looked at Jude unsure of what to do next. Jude smiled and took his hand and they started walking towards the main part of the school. “I guess we go to lunch” Jude said smiling.

“We could” Connor said getting a mischievous look on his face “or I could fly us over the school and we could make out in the clouds instead.” Jude laughed at his boyfriend and then suddenly realized they actually could do that. Before he could respond either way they heard a voice.

“Jude! Hey Jude!” Jude looked over and saw it was Wayne, Alex, Angie, and two boys that he didn’t recognize all walking towards them. Jude looked at Connor and sighed knowing the clouds would have to wait.

“Hey guys” Jude said smiling at them “what’s up?”

“We were heading to lunch and wanting to see if you would join us?” Wayne said with a smile. 

“Hey Connor. So…gay huh?” the unknown brunette said with a smile.

“Yeah Peter, I am, got a problem with that?” Connor said guardedly.

“You are kidding right? You think anyone is going to give the gay couple any grief when they are both Level 5 Supers? Are you nuts?” Peter laughed. He turned to Jude “By the way I am Peter, Level 3, flight and superspeed.”

The other boy looked at Jude and nodded with a small smile “Jacob, Level 3, Shapeshifter.”

Angie and Alex both snickered when Jacob said that. He looked very put upon as they giggled. “Jacob, do you shapeshift into anything or something in particular?” Angie said trying unsuccessfully not to laugh.

Jacob just sighed. “A giant wolf” he said without any inflection in his voice.

Jude’s eyes got big and he honestly tried to keep from laughing while he turned to Connor who was also struggling. “Uh” Jude said sympathetically “so you are saying that you’re a werewolf named Jacob?”

Jacob just sighed again. “Yeah. Can we get the jokes out of the way now and then let it go?” 

Everyone started giggled at the suffering Jacob when Alex suddenly screamed out in laughter and pointed at Connor. The others looked up and saw that Connor was, well there was no other word for it but sparkling with a look of total angst on his face as he yelled out “BELLA!”

The group lost it at that point and even Jacob was laughing along with them. After a few minutes Jude had recovered enough to get them to head to the cafeteria to eat lunch together. They walk in the room and it suddenly goes quiet. They see everyone looking at them and the whispering starts as they head to the food line. Jude feels very nervous and looks at Connor who smiles and tightens his grip on Jude’s hand. Peter look nervous and whispers to Jacob “Why is everyone staring at us?”

Angie replies in a whisper back “They aren’t. They are staring at Jude and Connor…we are just in the way.” She smiles and leads Angie towards the salad bar while the boys head for pizza. They get their lunch and sit down when Jude notices several older students are walking towards them and people are getting out of their way.

“So” the girl in front says looking down at them with a smile that does nothing to make Jude feel relaxed, “everyone is saying that we have two Level 5 students here. That’s so cool.” But Jude doesn’t feel that she means it. She is giving off alarms in Jude’s head and he doesn’t like her at all. “I am Rachel, a senior, Level 4.” Jude notices that her eyes have changed color to the softest shade of pink and seem to be glowing. 

“This is Donnie, Level 3, super strength and metal skin. Mikos, Level 4, ice powers. Douglas, Level 3, sonics. And Caleb, Level 4, hydrokinetic” she introduced the boys with her. 

“Maybe you boys would like to come sit with us for lunch?” she smiles at both Jude and Connor and Jude notices that Peter, Jacob, and Wayne are all literally drooling over her.

“Thanks, but we are good” Connor says politely before turning back towards Jude. Jude smiles at him before noticing the sudden shock on Rachel’s face.

“What do you mean no?” she says sounding a lot less friendly. Jude notices that her eyes get a deeper pink “I think you both want to be with me…don’t you?” she says her voice almost vibrating. Jude notices that in addition to the three at their table, all of the boys with Rachel are swaying and he notices that several boys at nearby tables are reacting the same. It is almost as if they were under a spell or something…

Jude’s eyes widen as he realizes that every straight male is under Rachel’s sway but him and Connor are not. Anger flashes in Jude’s face as he suddenly goes cold and the room starts to darken and chill. Rachel turns from staring at Connor and looks into Jude’s black eyes and suddenly steps back fearfully. 

“You are charming them aren’t you?” Jude growls standing up in a move that looks like he is flowing across the seat as the shadows surround him. “You are hypnotizing them and you are going to stop right now or I will make you stop!” Jude snarled.

Rachel looks scared for a second before her face got a twisted smile on it. “I don’t know how you two are resisting me, but they aren’t. Donnie! Teach them some respect” she pointed at the large blonde guy who looked like a truck. “Gladly” Donnie said and cracked his knuckles but it sounded like breaking glass.

Donnie stepped forward and got ready to reach for Jude when Connor, glowing brightly, hit his face with his shining fist. Jude knew that Professor Sampson said Connor was strong, but he didn’t realize how strong till he saw Donnie smash through the back wall of the cafeteria after flying across the room from the force of Connor’s blow. Jude looked over at his boyfriend and smiled at the expression on his face. Connor didn’t hold back and Jude felt bad for Donnie who was probably just under Rachel’s spell as well.

Rachel looks shocked and then panicked. “Protect me!” she yells at the other boys “they want to hurt me!” 

The other three boys all get looks of fierce determination on their faces as they come at Jude and Connor. Mikos, the guy with the ice powers tries to send a wave of ice towards Connor who suddenly flashes a wave of heat and light that melts his ice before he lightly smacks him on the chin knocking him out like a puppet with his strings cut. 

Jude faces Douglas who opens his mouth and blasts him with a wall of sound forcing him to cover his ears. Douglas smiles thinking he has Jude down when Jude suddenly vanishes by stepping into the shadows. He moves around while Doug is trying to find him when Jude grabs him and pulls him into the shadows. Seeing Jude Doug opens his mouth but nothing happens. He looks afraid right before Jude’s fist knocks him out and they both appear back in the cafeteria.

The last boy, Caleb, has caused several sprinklers and water fountains to bust and is using the water to blast Connor along with the melted ice that Mikos left behind. Unfortunately for Caleb, it is like using a water gun on a forest fire as most of the water is evaporating about 2 inches from Connor. He looks desperate right before Jude knocks him in the head with a tray causing the water to come crashing down. 

Connor smiles at him and they both turn to see Rachel running for the door when all of a sudden she gets hit with an arc of electricity and spasms before collapsing on the ground. Jude sees a girl just a bit older than he is stand up and walk over to her, electricity still crackling around her, and says “That’s for messing with my brother you bitch!”

She looks over at them and smiles right before a voice cuts through the room “What is going on here?!”

Jude and Connor turn and see Layla and an older woman with gray hair but very fit standing in the doorway looking angry. Jude is reminded of Stef for some reason.

“Well?” the older woman asks the room.

“Um, Principal Morris, it’s…well, it’s…” the girl with the electricity stammers.

“It’s Rachel using her charm powers again” Angie says to the two women at the door. “I told you she was abusing her powers mom.”


	7. Chapter 7

Principal Morris looked at Angie with a shocked expression. “What do you mean?” she asked sounding tired.

“Mom I have tried to tell you, Rachel uses her charm powers on the boys to make them do what she wants them to. She is not a nice person” Angie said with a resigned tone. 

“She was trying to get Connor and I to come be part of her harem” Jude added. Principal Morris turned towards him with a raised eyebrow. “Her eyes were glowing pink and she kept trying to get us to ‘be with her’ and when we said no, she freaked out and got angry. Then when I realized that she was charming them and told her stop, she told the four boys with her to attack us.”

“We took them out fairly quickly and she took off when that girl” Connor pointed at the girl who at electrified Rachel “tased her.”

“My brother is Douglas” she told them “the guy with the sonic powers. Uh…the one laying over there” she pointed to the guy Jude had took out first. “Ever since Rachel had decided she wanted him as her little toy, he was been like a puppet” she said angrily.

Layla sighed “We will need to question Rachel under Psi-scan” she said “and maybe have it done by a female?” she suggested to Principal Morris. 

She looked very sad and disappointed but she nodded and several adults came and picked up Rachel and took her out of the room. Principal Morris turned towards Jude and Connor “I understand you are two of our new students, and both of you are Level 5’s?” she asked them and they both nodded. “But reading your files did not indicate how you were able to resist Rachel’s powers” she said wondering.

“Probably because they are gay” Angie said with a smirk as Jude and Connor looked confused. “Rachel’s power has only ever worked on boys, not girls. But I have been wondering if that was the real reason or not. Now I think it was based on sex. She was able to charm people who were attracted to her and command them. Since you two are not interested in her like that, you were immune” she said satisfied.

“That’s a very good interpretation” Layla said thoughtfully. “Basically Rachel was a Siren then…someone who lured men. I guess it’s lucky that you two are together” she said looking at them.

Principal Morris nodded and left the cafeteria after instructing the med team to take the four unconscious students that they had knocked out to the medical center. Jude and Connor looked at Angie… “So your mom is the principal?” Jude said with a smile. “My mom was the Vice-Principal at our old school so I feel for you.” Angie just nodded

Sitting back at their table the cafeteria conversations started up again with the guys still confused about what had happened. All of them had been under Rachel’s ‘spell’ and didn’t quite remember everything. The girls however did and thoroughly enjoyed recounting the entire story to them including how Jude and Connor had basically took out several juniors and seniors without breaking a sweat. 

“Hi” Jude looked up and saw a pretty girl who reminded him of Maddie standing there. 

“Uh hi” Jude replied uncertainly.

“Hi. I’m Samantha and this is Meaghan” she said pointing to the girl standing next to her “I just wanted to say nice job on dealing with that tramp.”

Jude looked at Connor and saw the smirk on his face and smiled back. “Thanks” Jude replied “I take it you are not one of her fans?”

“Definitely not” Meaghan said laughing. “Like she said, I’m Meaghan and I am Level 3, Telekinetic.”

“I am Level 4, Magnetism” Samantha said smiling. 

“I’m Jude and this is Connor” he said pointing at his boyfriend. “This is Wayne, Angie, Alex, Peter, and Jacob” Jude said pointing to the rest of the table.

“We have heard quite a bit about you two” Samantha said with a smile. “It’s kind of all over the school that you are both Level 5’s, but what is more impressive is how you were able to resist the charms of the tramp. Can we ask about your powers?”

Jude looked at Connor to silently confer about whether they wanted to talk. “My powers are solar based: flight, strength, heat, and light” Connor told them. 

“Mine are shadow based: strength, darkness, and transdimensional travel” Jude answered.

Samantha and Meaghan both looked at each other confused. “So how did you resist her” Samantha asked confused. 

“Easy” Connor said with a laugh “we’re boyfriends.”

Samantha and Meaghan both looked at them in shock, though Jude was fairly certain that there was some disappointment there as well as he had noticed her checking Connor out. “Wait, you are both gay?” Samantha asked uncertainly.

“Well it would be really awkward if only one of us was” Jude said with a smirk. Connor chuckled as Jude unleashed his typical sass.

“Oh, right” Samantha stuttered. “Just surprised a bit is all.”

Jude looked at her with his eyebrow raised “So it seems that everyone is after something huh?” he asked.

Both of the girls looked uncomfortable at Jude’s comments but Samantha sighed. “The truth is that’s not too far off Jude. Ever since Rachel got here, she has been picking up her little entourage to secure her spot as queen of the school. Since then, you are either one of her drones, you can’t stand her, or you don’t matter enough for her to even notice you.” 

“If you all knew that, why didn’t someone stop her” Jude asked confused. 

“The problem was that she was really subtle. No one could prove that she was abusing her powers because none of the boys that she charmed would speak against her. She must have gotten really rattled when her powers didn’t work on you and she overreacted when you called her on it…though I have no idea how you figured it out so fast” Samantha said.

“Yeah Jude” Connor said with a puzzled look. “You knew almost immediately what she was doing Jude. How did you know?”

“I’m not entirely sure” Jude said thinking about it. “I saw her eyes become pink and then get even pinker and saw the guys all swaying like they were hypnotized. And suddenly I just knew that she was charming them. I’m not sure exactly how I put it all together” Jude said thinking hard with his brow furrowed.

“Jude…didn’t Professor Sampson say something you being able see things hidden by others?” Connor asked him. “Could that be how you figured it out since she was hiding her true self?”

Jude looked thoughtful “I guess” he said slowly.

At that point Layla walked up to their table. “Jude and Connor” she said smiling “Professor Sampson is waiting for you in Room 211. He has your schedules for the rest of the week.” She looked at the rest of the table before walking off.

Jude and Connor spent the rest of that day with Professor Sampson demonstrating their powers and learning how to more consistently access them. He indicated that they would have class with him 3x per week and gave them the schedule for the rest of their classes. They had a free period at the end of the day and they had wondered outside to talk.

“So…” Jude started “this is kind of unexpected.” Connor looked at him with laughing eyes. 

“You are such a dork” Connor teased him.

Jude got a devilish smirk and went to shove his shoulder but decided to put a little extra behind it and when he pushed Connor went sailing about 10 feet before hitting the ground. “So you think you are strong huh?” Connor said laughing. Jumping up he launched himself at Jude and tackled him to the ground pinning him down. “Of course I am stronger” Connor teased him pinning him to the ground. Jude bucked and Connor suddenly found himself flung flipping over and Jude landed on top of him, their positions suddenly reversed.

“Not as strong as you think apparently” Jude smirked down at Connor. Connor smiled and Jude suddenly gasped as they lifted off the ground and Jude suddenly found themselves floating several feet off the ground and he was now holding on to Connor who was laughing.

“Dammit Connor” Jude muttered before they suddenly rolled over and, still hovering, Jude found himself hanging on to Connor. A mischievous look came over Connor’s face when all of a sudden Jude felt them shoot up. ‘How was he doing this lying flat?’ Jude thought. Suddenly they were over 100 feet in the air and Connor had a huge grin on his face at how Jude suddenly tightened his grip around Connor. 

“Scared?” Connor teased him. “Now I believe we were saying who’s stronger” he smirked down at Jude with a definite superior look on his face.

Jude scowled at how Connor was looking. Remembering something Professor Sampson had talked to him about Jude got a grin on his face and then he completely let go. Jude almost laughed at the sudden panic on Connor’s face as he dropped down and Connor realized he was no longer holding on to him. After a moment, Connor suddenly shot down towards Jude to try and catch him. Jude watched him reach out to grab him when Jude suddenly shifted into the shadows. 

Connor freaked when Jude let go. He had not been holding on to Jude to tease him about lifting him up when suddenly Jude was falling. Connor’s heart suddenly clenched as he saw Jude fall away from him, his arms spread wide as he dropped towards the ground. Pushing, Connor found himself flying towards Jude with his arm reaching out to grab him when Jude suddenly vanished from in front of Connor. Unfortunately for Connor he was moving pretty fast and he suddenly saw the ground was a lot closer than he realized. He tried to pull up but he was moving too fast to stop when Connor suddenly found himself slamming into the dirt.

Standing up, Connor was covered in dirt and found himself spitting grass out of his mouth when he heard laughter from the side. Looking over he saw Jude standing a few feet away laughing. Narrowing his eyes Connor lunged, putting his energy behind him when Jude suddenly noticed barely a second before he was back on the ground, pinned under Connor right like had been before.

“That was a mean trick Judicorn” Connor smirked down and him as he lowered himself to kiss Jude. Jude leaned up into the kiss, ignoring the dirt and grass, and pulled Connor down into the kiss. Breaking apart both of them were smiling when Connor sighed. “I guess we shouldn’t be making out where anyone can see us?” he said sadly. Pulling back he lifted Jude into a sitting position before they both stood up.

“I just thought of something” Connor said smiling. “Can our transport pads go somewhere other than school?”

“What do you mean?” Jude asked.

“Could we transport between our houses?” Connor wondered. Jude’s eyes widened.

“Let’s go ask Bill” Jude said excitedly and dragged Connor to the transport center. 

Bill confirmed it was possible, but it would have to be approved by the administration so they decided that they would ask Layla. If she said no, Connor said he could just fly back and forth.

“Do you think we should tell our families?” Jude asked Connor seriously.

“Why not?” Connor wondered.

“I think we should take our time with things Connor” Jude said thinking carefully. “Besides, you can’t tell your family about me without my permission according to the school rules” he smirked. 

Connor frowned at Jude but then just shook his head. “You are planning something” Connor said looking at Jude suspiciously. “What are you up to?” 

Jude smiled at Connor and reached out and patted his cheek “Don’t worry about it Connor, I’ve got something planned. 

The bell rang and they jumped and headed back to the transports. Kissing him quickly, Jude jumped on the pad and in a flash found himself stepping out into the Adams-Foster garage.

“Hey Jude” he looked up and saw Callie coming toward him and he smiled.


	8. Chapter 8

“Hi Callie” Jude barely got out before his sister wrapped him in a giant hug. “Were you standing here waiting for me?” he asks her laughing.

“What? I can’t be excited to see my little brother?” she said trying to sound innocent.

Jude just gave her the look. Raising an eyebrow she started laughing. “Okay, okay. Maybe I was a little worried about you and maybe I was waiting for you to get back, but I’m your sister so it’s allowed” she explained.

“No one else felt it was necessary to hover Callie” Jude said as they walked in the house only to see everyone sitting there in the kitchen, obviously waiting for him. Jude looked surprised when they all welcomed him home.

“We took turns” Callie confessed. “Mama wouldn’t let all of us out there at one time.”

Jude looked at Lena and Stef who didn’t even look guilty about it. “What?” Lena said coming to give him a hug. “We just want to know how your first day went honey.”

Jude just shook his head and walked in and saw them all sitting at the island waiting for them. Jesus was bouncing in his chair and Brandon was almost as bad. “Sit down and tell!” Mariana demanded and the others were all nodding.

“Now calm down” Stef called out over the group. “Give him a minute to breathe. It’s just a school day after all.”

“Are you kidding?” Jesus yells. “Jude is going to super high. We want to hear what he did and everything!”

Jude just snickered. “It wasn’t all that exciting Jesus” Jude told him. “We just did placement, got our schedules, made some friends and dealt with a bully, sort of.”

“What do you mean a bully?” Lena asked concerned.

“It’s no worry mama. The Principal took her out and they were dealing with her” Jude assured his mother.

“Her?” Mariana said surprised. “The bully was a girl?”

“Wait. I want to hear about placement!” Jesus interrupted.

“What about your classes?” Brandon added

“STOP!” Callie yelled over everyone. They all got quiet and looked at her in surprise. “Jude, why don’t you just tell us how the day went? That should cover everything” she suggested.

Lena nodded gratefully at Callie. “I think that is a great idea Callie” she looked at everyone. “Jude, can you just walk you through the day?”

Jude just smiled at his family enjoying their excitement. “That’s probably the best idea” he agreed. “Well I arrived at school and we had to do Orientation and a more intense campus tour. It was great, we saw a bunch of new stuff and learned a lot including not revealing other students’ identities but I did get to meet some new friends. Since I can’t tell you their names, I will just you letters. There’s ‘A2’, she is a shapeshifter, but low power. She can only change some parts of her appearance like hair and eye color. Not a big power, but she is really cool. ‘A1’, well her dad is a healer but she didn’t inherit his full power but she can block anyone’s pain. She wants to work with medical rescue. Then there is ‘W’, he is a computer path. It’s like a mind reader, but he can read computers and technology. Really cool and he is Level 3” Jude told them.

“What about you?” Jesus asked excitedly. 

Jude smiled shyly. “I was ranked as a Level 5” Jude said softly.

“Whoa!” Jesus said in awe. “So you are like Sentinel? Stronger than the Commander and Jetstream?” The rest of the family was shocked, especially Callie.

“Yeah” Jude mumbled “but the really cool part is that I’m not the only one.”

“What do you mean?” Mariana asked. “I thought Layla said the last Level 5 was Will.”

“He was, but there are actually two Level 5’s in my class. Everyone was kind of freaking out about it. One of the guys in the other orientation group was also ranked as a Level 5 so we are being put together to train and work together. Professor Sampson, he specifically trains the 5’s, came to Sky High West to work with both of us. So we will be in all our classes together, mostly, as we work with him. It’s really cool what he does. He just touches you and for 5 minutes, he has your powers and can use them really well. So he was able to teach us some stuff already but he is very excited to work with both of us” Jude tells his family.

“What’s this other guy’s powers?” Brandon asked.

“That’s what’s even cooler. His powers are solar based. He can fly, is super strong and invulnerable, and can generate heat, light, and lasers!” Jude gushed. “He is really awesome and our powers complement each other.” 

“What do you mean?” Stef asked confused.

“If he blasts me with his lasers or fire, which can melt a steel wall by the way, it just super charges me, I get stronger as I absorb it. Professor Sampson said that he can make me stronger and I can prevent him from doing damage to others if he lets loose. He thinks that if we work as a team…we will be pretty incredible. I also learned more about my shadow travels including how to pull things in with me” Jude told them excitedly. 

“That’s so cool” Mariana said. “So you two are a team now?” 

“Yeah” Jude nodded. “We even had a free period and we played around with our powers. I threw him across the quad and then he flew us up about 100 feet to dangle me over the school in order to get me to give up.”

“What’d you do?” Brandon asked concerned, but excited.

“I let go and fell. It totally freaked him out as I dropped towards the ground” Jude laughed.

“Are you okay” Callie asked worried. “Did you get hurt?”

“No way” Jude said with another laugh. “I waited till he almost caught me and shifted into shadows. He plowed right into the dirt. Funniest thing you saw. He was covered in dirt and grass. Pretty sure he swallowed a bug or two.” 

Mariana, Jesus, and Brandon all laughed at that but Callie was still looking worried. “Honest Callie, I’m fine. That’s what’s so cool. Our powers really work well together. I can totally see us being a team like Commander and Jetstream” Jude assured her.

“Well…not exactly” Mariana teased him.

“Well…he is really cute” Jude winked.

“JUDE!” Mariana said shocked. “You have a boyfriend.”

Jude sighed, pretending to be sad. “I know. But we did check and if Layla gives permission, we can get our transport pads connected so that we can visit each other’s house. It would be cool if you all could meet him.”

Stef and Lena looked at each other surprised at how excited Jude was about this new boy. “Did you meet anyone else? What about this bully?” Lena asked him.

“Oh yeah” Jude said looking guilty. “Well, I met his friends ‘P’ who can fly, really fast. Then there was Jacob” Jude said with a snicker.

“Wait, aren’t you not supposed to say his name?” Lena asked. 

“Probably not” Jude snickered. “But he is a shapeshifter who turns into a giant wolf.”

They all looked at him when Mariana giggled. “Wait. You go to school with a werewolf named Jacob?” she asked.

“Yeah” Jude grinned. “Everyone is having a lot of fun with the Twilight jokes. ‘C’, the other Level 5, he even made himself sparkle as a joke.”

They all laughed about that. “Then we went to lunch where we ran into this girl Rachel. Turns out she can charm men and she basically tried to force C and me to be part of her pack of boy toys. But we were immune to her powers and when she learned that she freaked out she told the guys she had charmed to attack us” Jude told them.

“WHAT?!” Callie yelled. “You were attacked?”

“Jude this is serious!” Lena said looking really concerned.

“It’s okay Callie. Moms. Honest. C and I took care of them. The big guy, super strength and metal skin? C knocked him through a wall with one punch. The guy with the sonic powers blasted me but I went shadow and pulled him in. Seems his powers don’t work in that place so I knocked him out easily. The guy with ice powers tried to freeze C who melted it and then knocked him out. The last guy had water powers and was trying to take out C who was evaporating his water when I knocked him unconscious. Rachel ran and another girl electrocuted her. It was really funny to see her hair go wild when she went down” Jude laughed. “Layla and the Principal showed up and took her to deal with it. The whole thing didn’t take 5 minutes, honestly. I didn’t even break a sweat” Jude said trying to get Callie calmed down.

“Whoa Jude” Jesus said impressed. “You and this guy took on four other guys?”

“Yeah. They were juniors and seniors, but they were charmed. Seems her powers didn’t work on girls either and the girl who tased her was the sonic guy’s sister” Jude explained.

“Wow Jude” Brandon said impressed. “You have changed. From shy Jude to super Jude, huh?”

“It’s another part of my powers” Jude explained. “I can see things that other people try to hide” suddenly Jude frowned looking at his oldest brother before turning to look at Callie. Suddenly his eyes widened and he saw fear in his sister’s face. Turning away quickly before anyone else noticed he looked down to collect his thoughts but he was certain. Callie and Brandon had done something a lot more than kissing and it wasn’t that long ago.

“Wait?” Mariana asked not picking up on Jude’s behavior “What do you mean you can see things that people hide?”

Jude shook his head. “It’s hard to explain. I can look at someone and I just get this…understanding…of a situation. With Rachel I just knew that she was using her powers to dominate the guys. I’m not sure how to explain it, but the more someone is trying to hide something, the faster I figure it out” he explained.

“That’s kind of creepy Jude” Mariana said.

“Hey!” Jesus yelled at his twin. “That’s cool. Don’t call my bro creepy!”

“I didn’t say he was creepy dork” Mariana said with a huff. “I said it was creepy. Jude basically knows people’s private secrets without their consent. That puts him in a tough place is all.”

“What do you mean?” Stef asks her daughter.

“Well…let’s say that Jude learns something about someone that they don’t want people to know…does he tell? Say a girl was sexually abused but she doesn’t want people to know, does he tell? What about someone who is having an affair? Stealing from work? Cheating on taxes? Where is the line?” Mariana asked seriously.

Lena and Stef looked at each other carefully. “I don’t know honey” Stef said carefully. “I have rules about what I have to do if I learn something and so does mama, but not sure if there are superhero rules. I would say right now that it’s probably better that Jude not tell on someone unless that person or another is at risk of physical harm. Lena?”

“That’s a tough one. Have you asked at school?” Lena suggested slowly. “I wonder if there is an ethics class for you guys.”

“Funny you mention that” Jude said with a small smile. “That’s one of my classes: Ethics and Superpowers. But till then, I think I will do what mom said. Unless someone’s life is in jeopardy, I will stay quiet.” He notices that his mom’s both nod at that. “That means here too” he says looking at them “I won’t tell any of your secrets I learn” he looks at everyone, “I promise.”

“Uh…” Stef suddenly looks less happy with that. 

“Thanks mom” Jude continues quickly “it really helps that you agree that it’s not right for me to learn stuff about my siblings and tell you and mama. Or about you two.” Jude smiles and Stef sighs giving up.

Lena smirks knowing what Jude just did and while she is as concerned as Stef about what he might learn, she agrees that he probably shouldn’t tell. Jude looks over when he feels Callie grasp his hand and squeeze. She looks grateful when she smiles at him.

 

**_Later that night_ **

Jude is sitting on his bed looking at one of his new books Working with Police: How to avoid being shot at by your allies. It is a really confusing read about the difference between being a liaison versus being a vigilante but he knows that he will need to learn it. Jude stops when he looks up and sees Callie standing there.

“Hey Jude” Callie says softly. “Can we talk?” she asks carefully.

Jude nods and Callie walks in closing the door. She comes over and sits on the bed and doesn’t say anything for a while, just looking down. Jude moves over to give her a big hug.

“This is all really crazy” Callie whispers. “You having powers, mom being a thief, you being a super-super. I guess I’m not handling it too well but I don’t know how to protect you Jude” she confesses.  
Jude smiles and hugs her again. “It’s crazy for me too Callie. I haven’t had the chance to stop long enough to figure it all out, but I am trying. I am still trying to understand my powers and what they mean. I didn’t mean to…well I guess snoop is the word…on you two” Jude said slowly.

“Jude…what do you know?” Callie asks not looking at him.

Jude takes a deep breath. “I know that you and Brandon slept together” Jude said softly and notices how his sister suddenly tenses up. “I know it wasn’t like Liam though” Jude says just as certainly. “I know that you are both confused and upset about it and don’t know what to do” he finishes. 

Callie looks at him, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry Jude. We thought I wasn’t going to get adopted” she confessed. Callie went on to tell him everything about how Rita was being framed and she got evidence to clear her but that she was threatened with having her relationship with Brandon exposed but she turned over the evidence anyway.

“You were willing to give up being adopted to save Rita?” Jude asked his sister. She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak. “Wow. I guess being heroic runs in the family” Jude smiled when she looked over at him. “Callie you put the truth about Rita ahead of the lie about you and Brandon. You were not selfish, but the total opposite. I am so proud of you!” he said hugging her again.

“You’re proud of me? But I…” she started.

“You made a good decision and then one that was not as good” Jude cut her off. “Look I know that you are upset about it, so is he I can tell, but you can move on from it if you want.” Jude gently squeezed her hand and tried to reassure his sister. “I am not saying anything about it Callie and I am not going to judge you two if you don’t either. We are a family now, what happened before is the past. What matters is what happens next.” Jude looked at her, the question remaining unspoken.

Callie hugged Jude tightly. “When did my little brother get so smart?” she wondered.

“Well, I do have a really good relationship with my boyfriend, so I know something about love” Jude said teasing.

“Oh you remembered your boyfriend finally?” Callie said pushing him. “The way you were almost drooling talking about the guy at school a little while ago made me wonder.”

Jude smiled. “Don’t worry about me and Connor. Nothing and no one will come between us, especially now. Besides, my new friend lives in LA so if we do get our transport pads connected, I could visit Connor easier that way” Jude smiled. “And Connor and I talk every single day, so I understand what it means when people tell you that you can’t be with the one you want so I do understand Callie” Jude leans his forehead against his older sister’s. “I trust you to do the right thing” she tells her.

After a few minutes Callie gets up and heads to her own room and Jude flops down. He knows he will probably have to have a similar talk with Brandon but he starts to wonder…how far could he shadow walk? All the way to LA?


	9. Chapter 9

Connor steps off the transport pad in his house and heads inside from the garage. He walks into the kitchen and grabs a bottle of water and looks for something to eat even though he isn’t really hungry. 'It’s really weird that I don’t need to actually eat or drink' he thinks. The tests at Sky High showed that he basically generated his own energy like a star does so he doesn’t actually need to eat and when he does it just…well vaporizes inside him. But he does like the taste of food so he still eats sometimes when he forgets that he doesn’t need to or he just wants to feel normal.

His mother is at work and won’t be back for another few hours and knowing the Adams-Fosters, Jude is currently being grilled by his family for details of his day. He is sure his mom will want to know when she gets home but for now it’s just Connor. He walks into his room and flops on the bed trying to decide whether to play video games or do something. The biggest problem is that all of the stuff he used to do for fun like running, working out, and sports are all useless now. His home gym is worthless with how strong he is, cardio is pretty pointless and skateboarding doesn’t really do it for him now that he can fly.

Connor thought back to that day shortly after the end of summer school. He had been in his house after going for a run to exercise but he didn't really feel like he had accomplished something like he usually did. He had sweated, but not like usual so he decided to go work out with his dad’s weights. He set them up with his normal weights but after a few reps he was confused as it was like he was lifting the empty bar. He decided he had just gotten stronger and added another 20 lbs (10 kg) to the bar but that didn’t feel any heavier. He had kept adding weights till he ran out of weights and was benching over 440 lbs (200 kg) without any effort which freaked him out. But what was unreal was when he grabbed it with one hand and did a bicep curl like it was a 5 lb (2 kg). He did 20 reps and felt nothing and was totally freaked out. 

After putting everything back like it was, Connor went up and showered and tried to decide what to do. His parents used to read him stories about supers so he wondered if he could be one. He suddenly was super strong and didn’t know why or how. 

That night his dad came in and Connor had intended to talk to him but his dad was in one of his moods so he avoided talking to him. He begged off seeing Jude, apologizing for it, but he was nervous about his strength. He needed to test himself and so that night he snuck out after his dad was asleep and stepping up to his dad’s car he was able to lift it off the ground. Okay, definitely super strength Connor thought and he snuck back in to his room.

The next morning he decided to talk to his dad.

“Dad” Connor said when his dad walked into the kitchen “can I ask you something.”

Adam grunted as he reached for his coffee. “Give me a minute Connor” he muttered. Adam was not a morning person nowadays though he used to be. He sat down and sipped his coffee for a few minutes before looking up. “Okay…what’s up?” he asked.

“You know those stories you used to tell me about supers?” Connor asked carefully.

Adam blinked. “Yeah…the stories we told you to get you to go to bed?” Adam clarified.

“Yes…I can’t remember if you ever said how people became supers. I mean how did someone get super powers?” Connor asked.

Adam straightened up. “Well, there are two ways” Adam explained. “You can be born with the super gene because your parent had the gene or you can get it by some incident like radiation or super stress or something…but typically those who get it from an outside source have a genetic sensitivity that allows the person to turn a deadly situation into something that changes them instead of killing them. Why the sudden interest in supers?”

“Some kids at school were talking and I thought about your stories” Connor said quickly. “So you can get them from your parent if you parent has super powers?” he asks.

“Not exactly” Adam says slowly. “I said that if your parent has the super gene. Some people have the gene but don’t have powers. Not every kid of a super is a super themselves. Sometimes a super will have kids and they won’t have powers but they can pass on the gene to their own kids who will become a super.”

“So it can skip a generation?” Connor asks suddenly.

“Basically. Or several generations even. There have been supers for over 200 years now so no one is really sure how many people have the gene and when two people who have it have a kid, that kid can develop powers” Adam told him.

Adam looks at his son carefully and sees him processing this information. “Connor” he says softly and Connor looks up. “Are you sure there isn’t any other reason you are asking?”

Connor thinks about telling him for a minute before deciding not to. After the whole gay conversation he isn’t ready for another one with his dad. “No…just curious” Connor says with a smile. “I’m going to go skateboarding if that’s okay” he asks. Adam just nods and he heads out grabbing his board.

Connor gets to the park and there are only a few guys and girls there. The skies do not look very good for today, they might even get some rain but he doesn’t care. He skates and tunes out the world for a while as he moves, jumps, and twists. He is so focused that the sudden crash of thunder and flash of lightning come as a total surprise. He looks around and realizes that he is alone at the park when the rain comes down. Connor, at the top of the half pipe decides to ride his board down and head for the exit when he feels the board shift on the rain slick surface.

It’s like time slows to a crawl as he watches it happen. He feels his feet slip as the board slides sideways on the water as Connor shifts opposite the direction of the board. He sees the board flying away from him as his body moves over the edge of the ramp as he twists and sees the pavement rushing towards him as his body flies into the air knowing that he is going to be hurt…badly.

Connor sees the pavement suddenly pause, keeping it’s distance from him but the rain is still coming down like normal. He freaks…he is hovering!! Trying to sit up, his body shifts so that he is standing straight up…but hovering in the air, his feet off the ground. The fear and adrenaline puts a smile on his face as he looks up and wonders for second before his body follows and Connor finds himself shooting up into the air and he finds himself high above the skate park before he knows it.

“I’m Flying!” he yells, only to be drowned out by another peal of thunder. Connor laughs with glee as he shoots forwards, towards his house getting faster and faster when he realizes that he has flown past his house and finds himself passing over the school and crossing the beach to fly over the ocean. Smirking he thinks ‘faster’ and feels a sudden rush of energy and he takes off. Angling up he is tearing through the sky and he punches through the clouds. He is amazed by the wind currents blowing the rain up, down, and sideways. He laughs as he tumbles through the clouds feeling exhilarated from a feeling like he has never known. Turning around he sees a series of flashes and then all of a sudden there is an arc of lighting head right towards him, that strikes him in the center of the chest. But it only tickles. He laughs out loud and speeds down again flying through the clouds before heading over the sprawl of San Diego. 

Drenched with water Connor doesn’t feel cold but he doesn’t like being wet so he looks down and seeing Anchor Beach, he orients himself and heads home. The rain is still coming down so he aims for his backyard and comes down harder than he plans smashing into the ground. Sitting up he is wet, covered in mud, and laughing in pure joy.

He stands up and moves around the house and opens the door to the garage. 

“Connor?” his dad’s voice freezes him as he steps inside. “What happened to you?”

Connor looks over and sees his dad at the weight bench in the garage. Connor looks down and sees the mud and water dripping off him and knows he must look crazy. “I…uh…got caught in the rain” he stammers. He feels his wet clothes, plastered to him, and starts to feel uncomfortable wishing he was dry and warm and he suddenly feels a rush of warmth.

Connor looks at his dad who is staring at him wide-eyed. He notices that the light in the garage is getting brighter but he doesn’t know why when he sees steam coming off of him as he realizes that his clothes are somehow drying and the mud, now dried, starts breaking off and falling to the ground. He feels the warmth and heat pushing out of him and he is suddenly dry. Looking at his father he expects to see him freak out but instead he is smiling this huge smile.

“Dad?” Connor asks nervously.

“Well…” Adam takes a deep breath “I guess I should tell you about your grandfathers.”


	10. A generous inheritance

“Well…” Adam takes a deep breath “I guess I should tell you about your grandfathers.”

“My grandfather?” Connor asks confused. He is standing in his garage glowing and generating heat and his dad isn’t freaking out but rather looking happy.

“Grandfathers Connor…plural. Both your mom and my dads were supers” Adam tells him. “Looks like you might have a mix of them.” Adam looks at his son and smiles “But why don’t we go inside…you can grab a shower and change and we can talk.”

They walk into the house and Connor is feeling really strange. His dad is acting like he did way back when, before he found out that Connor was gay and dating Jude. He looked at him like he was…proud?

Connor stepped into his bathroom and stripped off his dry clothes before looking at himself in the mirror. The mud, now dried, had gotten everywhere, especially his hair and ears. Otherwise he looked good. He had thought that he might have some bruises or something from his rather harsh crash landing or where the lightning bolt had hit him, but there was nothing. His skin was unmarked with no sign of a bruise or cut.

Jumping in the shower he quickly washed up, including shampooing three times to get all the mud out of his hair and everywhere else…it really had gotten everywhere! He stepped out and reached for a towel before stopping and looking back at the mirror and smiling. He thought back to the garage and found himself warming up again and he watched as the water steamed away leaving him completely dry in a few seconds. The only problem was that his hair was a mess. He laughed and grabbed some gel to fix it. He dressed quickly and headed down the stairs to hear his dad’s voice.

“I’m not sure how long I just found out a few minutes ago. Definitely heat and light but that’s all I know so far” Adam was saying before pausing. “Yes I know” another pause “I will tell him. Are you coming down?” another pause “okay…we will see you tomorrow….bye.”

Connor stepped into the room and saw his dad putting down his phone. He looks at him for a second before Adam looks up at him and smiles “Your mom says hi…congratulations…and she will see you tomorrow” he tells Connor.

“That was mom? She’s coming?” Connor knew he was babbling. “You told her about me?”

“Of course I did Connor” Adam said as he moved to sit down in his chair. “We both wondered if you would be a super once we realized that both of our dads were supers so there was a pretty good chance you would be one.”

Connor flopped down on the couch stunned. “But…but…grandpa?” he finally asked.

Adam laughed. “Connor…is the heat and light it so far? I mean have you noticed any other abilities or anything?” Adam asked him leaning forward.

Connor was still shaking his head. “Connor!” Adam snapped his fingers causing Connor to look up at his father. “Any other abilities?”

Connor nodded. “I can fly…really fast. I got struck by lightning when I was flying through a cloud and it didn’t really hurt” Connor looked at his dad whose eyes had widened. “And when I crashed in the back yard, it didn’t hurt. I was able to dry off after my shower without a towel” Connor said and couldn’t believe that his dad was smiling like that. “Oh” he suddenly remembered “I also lifted up your car last night so super strength” he adds.

Adam starts shaking his head and laughing and leans back in his chair. “Connor…you” he keeps laughing “son you never do things halfway do you?” he laughs.

“What do mean?” Connor asks trying to understand why he is laughing so hard.

Adam gets control and wipes tears of laughter from his eyes before looking at Connor. “My dad, your grandfather Stevens, was a super like I said. He had this power he called “The Glow”, in fact that was his code name. He could glow and generate light, he also had super strength and was nearly invulnerable.”

“I thought he died in a car accident” Connor said confused.

“Actually he was killed by another Super” Adam admitted. “The car accident story was a cover up. Like I said he was nearly invulnerable, not totally.”

“But why is that so funny?” Connor asked confused.

“Your mother’s father, your Grandpa Jennings, was also a Super. His powers are fire based. He can generate heat, fire, and light. He can also fly and at really fast speed. Now do you see why this is funny?” he asked smiling.

“No” Connor admitted feeling a bit overwhelmed.

“Connor, it appears that not only are you a Super, but you have inherited all of both of your grandfathers’ abilities” Adam said smiling happily. “You have all the powers of both sides of the family!”

Connor smiled at his dad’s enthusiasm. “You said mom is coming down?” 

“Yes. We talked and she wants to see you. We thought we could go see my mom in Arizona. She can tell you more about my dad’s powers. I admit that my dad and I had a difficult relationship” Adam admitted. 

“Like us” Connor said before he could censor himself.

Adam looked at him guiltily. “Connor…that’s not the same thing. The problems with me and my dad were my fault. I so wanted to be like him and when I realized that I didn’t inherit his powers…it messed things up between us. I moved away for college and tried to distance myself from him. When he died I hadn’t talked with him in several years and you were only two when I last saw him. I guess I blamed him for me not getting powers, stupid I know, but I was a kid. It was only when he died that I realized what my anger had cost me.”

“Your relationship with your dad” Connor filled in the blanks and saw the guilt in his father’s reaction. 'He just doesn’t get that he is doing it again' Connor thinks but his dad is continuing.

“When my dad died I took it really hard and finally admitted to your mother everything about him. That’s when I found out her dad was also a super and she hadn’t inherited any powers either. When we realized that both of us had Super parents, there was a chance you might be too. We went to see her dad in Seattle and they checked you out. You definitely had the gene, but they weren’t sure whether or not you would manifest any powers” Adam explained.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Connor finally asked his dad.

“After what happened to me?” Adam snorted. “I was bitter and angry growing up thinking I would develop powers but I never did, same as your mom though she handled it better. I didn’t want you to go through that. Your mom and I talked and decided that when and if you developed powers, we would tell you then.”

Connor looked thoughtful and guessed that his mom and dad might have been right about this. Then he smiled. “Jude is so going to freak out” he laughed.

Connor saw his dad’s face fall and he looked suddenly very serious. “You can’t tell Jude Connor!” he said instantly.

“Dad, Jude is my boyfriend. I am not going to keep this from him” he said getting angry.

“Connor you can’t tell people. It not only puts you in jeopardy, it puts them in danger too” he says standing up.

Connor stands up as well. “He wouldn’t do anything to put me at risk!” Connor yells.

“And him? Connor if Jude knows, he could become a target. If someone can’t hurt you because you are a Super, then they could target those you care about” Adam warns. He sees Connor trying to think his words through but Adam continues without letting up. “And what if someone grabs Jude and threatens to kill him?” Adam asks his son. “Tell you to rob a bank, kill someone, do something terrible or they will torture and kill him? Son, this sucks, but you don’t tell people that don’t need to know and unless and until you marry him, he doesn’t need to know!”

Connor frowned at what his dad was saying but then he smiled for a second “So I can tell him when we get married?” he asks with an arched eyebrow.

Adam groans. “Connor, please. You know what I mean” Adam tells him.

Connor agrees to think about it. He decides to talk to his mom tomorrow to hear what she thinks. Adam tells him that after his mom arrives they are going to leave for Arizona and then Seattle. He also tells Connor about a school for kids who are Supers. Mr. Jennings had talked to Adam and Victoria when they tested Connor so that if it was necessary, they would be prepared. 

Connor returns to his room and texts Jude for a while but he doesn’t tell him about his powers yet. He probably will though. He doesn’t like what his dad was suggesting that he and Jude won’t still be together, but he promised to wait to talk to his mom and grandparents, and he will honor his word.

Connor turns out the light and puts down his phone and just lies in bed for a bit not really feeling too tired. He hold up his hand and suddenly his fingers are sparkling, generating little balls of light. He laughs and waves his hands around leaving a trail of twinkling lights behind them like he was a holding a sparkler. For the next few minutes Connor fills his room with dancing lights as he laughs. He can make some bright while others are barely there. Some are solid lights while others twinkle like little stars. He can even cause them to change colors. Soon his room like a sea of stars and Connor is floating in the middle of that sea as he hovers in the room. He finally stops after who knows how much time passes and he lays down to go to sleep. Tomorrow would bring his mom and then grandparents and he was excited.

**_Back to the present._ **

Connor was again lying on his bed, this time in Los Angeles instead of San Diego, after dinner and a very long recital of his day to his mom and a great call with Jude where they laughed about their families’ reactions to their day. He thought about tell his mom about Jude, but he had agreed so he didn’t, but it was tempting.

Smiling at the memory of that night, Connor recreated that ocean of lights in his room again and set them to dancing around as he laughed. Being a Super was better than almost anything, but being a Super with his Super Jude…that was the best thing!


	11. Sand and Moonlight

Jude sighs as Callie leaves his room and wonders how he is going to deal with all of this. How long will it take his brothers and sisters to freak out around him knowing he can just look at them and know their secrets? It’s not like he wants to know them…it just happens. He decides to ask Professor Sampson about it the next time they are together to see if he can tell him how to turn it off. 

Jude thinks about his mom and wonders if she had that power too? Layla and Will didn’t have a lot of information about her and what they did have was very sketchy because she didn’t really hang out with the heroes and she had never been caught. Not even close to it he thought with a trace of pride in her even though she was considered somewhat a villain. Jude preferred to think of her more like Robin Hood and using ‘questionable’ methods to balance the scales.

It was getting late but Jude was still wide awake. He looked up as Jesus walked in the room. “You still up?” Jesus asked him.

“Yeah…not really tired” Jude replied as Jesus changed into to his PJs and got into bed. 

“Well I am” Jesus said flopping down. “Mind if I turn off the lights?”

Jude chuckles. “You are actually asking a guy with shadow powers if he is okay with the dark?” he teases his brother.

Jesus laughs and then looks up curiously “Can you see in the dark?” he suddenly asks.

Jude thinks for a second and realizes he doesn’t know. “Don’t know” he replies.

Jesus turns out the lights in the room and Jude feels no different than before. He is just sitting in the darkness when he looks over in Jesus’s direction and strains his eyes trying to distinguish the blobs of darkness when all of a sudden the who room changes into sharp clarity. It’s not like when he shadow travels and it glows and it’s not like when the room is lit up, but it is totally clear. He can see everything is shades of gray…he can even read the writing on the posters on the walls.

“Wow” Jude says, excitement clear in his voice, “this is so cool!”

“What?!?” Jesus says sitting up and looking at Jude. Jude can see him struggling to look through the darkness.

“I can see everything” Jude tells him. “It’s like the lights are on but there’s no color” Jude tries to explain. “I can see your face and the posters and everything…it’s just so different. Not like when I shadow walk” he says and gets up and starts walking around the room. “It is so freaky!”

Jesus laughs at him. “You can teleport and have super strength and seeing in the dark is freaky?” he snorts. “You are such a dork!” he teases.

“Hush” Jude says pretending to be upset. “Don’t upset Shadow Jude!” 

Jesus snorts “Bro!”

Jude drops back into his bed with a laugh as they try to quiet down and Jude watches as Jesus quickly fades out and falls asleep but he still isn’t tired. Rather than disturb him again, Jude stands up quietly and focuses on the shadows and takes a step and he finds himself in his backyard. 

Jude looks back up at the house and smiles. He realizes that he now can sneak out of the house without having to sneak down the stairs, out a window, or anything. Of course, not sure why he really would want to but it’s fun to know that he can. He looks into the Shadows and takes another step and lands on the sand in front of Anchor Beach. He stands on the shore for a few minutes looking out over the water and just enjoys the peace and serenity of the sand and waves. 

Pulling his phone out he types a text to Connor. 

**Jude:** Missing you!

He starts to put his phone down when he gets a reply.

 **Connor:** Me too!

 **Jude:** Why are you up so late?

 **Connor:** Not tired. Been having trouble sleeping recently.

 **Jude:** Why?

 **Connor:** Not sure. Why are you up?

 **Jude:** Same here. Just not tired. Wish you were here.

 **Connor:** Where are you?

 **Jude:** Anchor Beach…near our bench…why?

 **Connor:** Be right back. Stay there!

Jude stares at his phone and shakes his head and looks back toward the water before walking out to the rocks where he and Connor sat after the end of the year school party. He sat down and just relaxed.

About twenty minutes later he hears a strange sound and looks up and sees a streak of light coming across the sky. It looks like a shooting star when it suddenly winks out like someone flipped a switch. As he stares up at where it was, he sees a shape dropping down from the sky and suddenly Connor lands on the sand and he jumps up and runs over.

“Connor” he yells and jumps into his boyfriend’s arms. “What are you doing here?”

Connor holds him tight and they are kissing for some time before he pulls back and smiles. “Well, since we were both up I flew down to visit!” he teases Jude. “At Mach 1 it didn’t take too long!” he laughed.

Jude punches his shoulder and they go back to kissing. 

Connor suddenly feels the shift as Jude pushes and he suddenly finds himself lying on his back in the sand, Jude pressing down on top of him, a cool pressure that draws the heat out from him making him shiver with delight. They continue to kiss on the sand for some time before Jude rolls over to lay on his side next to Connor, comfortable and content. 

“How was your day?” Jude finally asked Connor?

Connor snickered. “Mom cornered me when she got home from school. Demanded to know everything that happened” he said laughing.

“Me too” Jude said smiling softly. “The whole family was waiting for me and wanting all the details.” Jude proceeds to tell Connor about his day which leads to Connor returning the favor as they both laugh at their families’ reaction as well as how different it is at Sky High. They talk about their new friends and classes and other things that don’t really matter, but just makes them feel close to each other before Jude shifts his body, placing his hands on Connor's chest and resting his chin top of his hands, he looks at his boyfriend curiously. “You know…you never told me how you discovered your powers” Jude murmured.

Connor smiled and told him about discovering his strength and flying including the lightning and the crash before his dad caught him sneaking in. Then that both his mom and dad’s fathers were supers and it seems he inherited all of their powers.

“Wow!” Jude says truly impressed. “Then what happened?”

“Well” Connor began. “After mom arrived and gushed, I kid you not, we headed to the airport to catch a flight to Arizona to meet Grandma Stevens. Dad wanted me to talk with her so she could tell me about Grandpa’s powers. Dad didn't know a lot about them because he was really upset when he didn't inherit any powers. So we had to ask her. According to Grandma he called his power the Glow and it gave him strength and invulnerability in addition to being able to shine with light which is pretty cool. She said that Grandpa actually generated personal gravity fields which is why he was strong and hard to hurt. She said that in Super terms, his powers were energy based, but they never figured out exactly how he did it, or at least Grandma didn’t know if he did.

“That’s really cool!” Jude says impressed.

“I showed Grandma some of powers and she really liked it. When I showed her how I could create dancing lights, she said that Grandpa could never do that, he either glowed or not like a lantern. And he did need to eat and drink and stuff so she thinks that I am stronger than he was” Connor says sounding a bit shy.

Jude was impressed by Connor's grandfather. “What about your other grandfather” Jude asked.

“After visiting Grandma for two days, mom, dad, and I all flew up to Seattle to see Grandma and Grandpa Jennings” Connor started. “His powers were also energy based. He created fire. He could create heat and light without causing flames to erupt, but he mostly did the fire thing. He could fly by blasting around like a rocket. One day we actually went flying together!” Connor said excitedly.

“Wow” Jude felt a pang that Connor was able to use his powers with someone in his family.

“Yeah. We went flying around Mt. Ranier! It was awesome. We flew over parts of the snow pack and melted it too. It was really neat” Connor said happily. “He really liked how I could do everything he could do too! He also talked about what he did during the war as a Super with the military which I had to promise not to share details. I really can't wait for you to meet him!”

“Were you able to fly as fast as he could?” Jude asked.

“Actually I can fly faster than him…a lot faster to be honest” Connor said blushing. “I apparently don’t use the rocket way to fly, he wasn’t sure how I did it, but he leaves a trail of fire behind him while I don’t.”

Jude and Connor talk about the discovery of their powers and then they just enjoy being together, sometimes not saying anything for long stretches of time. Suddenly Connor’s phone goes off causing them both to sit up.

“What?” Jude asks nervously.

“I set my alarm for 5:00am so I could get back to LA before sunrise” Connor reassures him. They stand up and hug for a few minutes.

“This is stupid” Jude laughs. “We will see each other at school in two hours!” But he can tell that Connor understands. They have gone so long apart that they both hate having to separate like this but they know that they need to get back home to head to school so after another long kiss Connor launched himself into the air and with a whoosh was gone. Jude stepped into the shadows and stepped out into his room to see Jesus drooling on his pillow. 

Smiling he flopped down to lay down until his alarm went off in an hour and he had to go to his second day at Sky High.


	12. Learning & Explanations

The rest of the school week was fairly anticlimactic after that first day for Jude and Connor, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as far as Jude was concerned. The guys who had been under Rachel’s spell all were treated by telepaths at the school who broke her hold over them and allowed them to realize what had happened. Donnie, the metal guy, obviously really didn’t like them though even though he was grateful to be out of her clutches. He liked being known for his strength and getting knocked out with one punch by Connor had really pissed him off. He had claimed to his friends that her charm had handicapped him and that if he had been in his right mind it wouldn’t have been the same result. However Jude and Connor knew that Connor had already tested past his strength levels naturally and while Jude was not as strong normally, when ‘supercharged’ by Connor he was also stronger, but they refrained from saying anything out of sympathy for the guy.

Douglas came to see them with his sister Danielle, the girl who shocked Rachel, and he was very embarrassed about the whole situation. He not only apologized for attacking them, he was grateful that they had broke her hold over him. The two of them didn’t suddenly sit with their group at lunch or anything, but they were very friendly and Douglas was really curious about Jude’s shadow traveling and how come his sonic powers hadn’t worked there. It turns out that when Jude pulled people into the shadows, most of their powers didn’t work. It was like he had his own little detention room. Powers that were focused on the user were the most likely to work so Connor could still fly and was super strong in the shadows, but his solar powers were cut off.

Mikos and Caleb had been kind of standoffish about what had happened, but by the end of the week they had become a lot friendlier. Both of them talked to Connor about joining a school group called “The Elementals” which was made up those students whose powers were connected to earth, air, fire, or water. It wasn’t anything serious, but they did put on some really cool displays of their powers around the whole “bending” thing from that TV show. Connor didn’t really fit too well because while he could create flames, he couldn’t do much beyond shooting them in a straight line or bursting like a bomb in all directions. 

The classes they had were interesting and Jude particularly enjoyed the ethics class as he had a lot of really practical questions about using his powers and he ended up being added to a group made up of mostly telepaths in figuring out what to do when their powers let them know something that they weren’t supposed to know. Professor Sampson had told Jude that his secret knowing powers were in a passive receiving state which meant that the information just came to him without any real control. Instead of trying to block it out, Jude had to learn how not to use or reveal that information.

“I don’t understand” Connor had said one day while Jude was talking about it during their free period when they hung out on the grounds. “So you just know things people try to hide?”

“Sorta. I mean I don’t know everything going on with someone or anything. It’s strange because unlike telepaths I don’t hear everything someone is thinking or their memories or such. Melissa, she is a senior and a level 4 telepath, she said when she doesn’t user her powers to block it all out, it’s like she is standing in room filled with radios all playing different songs at different volumes. That’s what it’s like for her being in a room full of people. For me it’s like someone whispers in my ear and everything is really quiet so I hear just that tidbit. But it’s not all the time either. Sometimes I don’t pick up anything” Jude tried to explain.

“So, got anything from me?” Connor asks smirking.

“I’m not supposed to say remember? If I were to say, it would make people uncomfortable” Jude said with a laugh. “But, honestly? No. You must not be hiding anything” he added.

“Nope! I’m an open book there is nothing you don’t know” Connor said smugly.

Jude looked at him surprised. Talking with Melissa and how she had to deal with people’s thoughts, Jude was fairly certain Connor was not being 100% honest even if he didn’t realize it. But he could prove it. “Really?” Jude said looking thoroughly unconvinced. “Are you saying that there is nothing that you have said or done or thought about that you don’t want me to know?” Jude prodded.

“I tell you everything” Connor said still smiling.

Jude’s eyes narrowed and his smile sudden caused Connor to look nervous. “Everything? You mean there is nothing that you have done when you were alone or where no one would know…” Jude said smirking at the sudden blush that touched Connor’s face.

“NO!” he squeaked. But that was enough for Jude and he heard the tell tale whisper in his ear and it was suddenly Jude’s turn to blush, furiously. Connor had only turned slightly pink but Jude went full scarlet as his powers showed him something that he couldn’t un-see.

“Jude” Connor said looking at his boyfriend with a tremor in his voice. “What are you hearing?”

“Not hearing…seeing” Jude whispered without looking at his boyfriend. He couldn’t do that, he couldn't look up, not after what he just saw…

“Jude” Connor wailed, his voice throbbing with emotion. “What did you see?” he asked desperately. 

Jude took a deep breath and looked at his boyfriend’s earnest face and then suddenly saw that other face. The one from the night before when Connor had been in the shower and…. Jude’s face flushed and he fell over with his face in his hands as he groaned.

He heard Connor’s whimpers and he finally sat up and looked at those hazel eyes for a moment before looking away. “Your shower last night” Jude whispered and saw the realization and shock cross Connor’s face. 

“How much did you see?” Connor voice was strangled.

“Not…everything” Jude said slowly. “More like I know what you did and that you were thinking about me…” Connor went pale. “But I didn’t actually ‘see’ it all happen or anything” Jude hurried to say.

They sat there together, both feeling mortified by the revelations before Connor finally took a deep breath and looked at Jude. “I guess I really shouldn’t have pressed you, huh?” he finally said.

Jude nodded, not trusting his voice yet. 

“This is really not fair you know” Connor said sullenly. “I mean I fly fast and you get to know what I do when…Oh God!” Connor groaned again.

Jude smirked at his reaction. “Hey!” Connor yelled seeing that. “You are not allowed to enjoy this!”

Jude leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Connor’s lips before moving to kiss on his ear before whispering “You aren’t the only one who has done that.” He pulled back to look at Connor’s whose eyes widened and sparkled with mischief. 

Connor suddenly smiled and Jude was pulled into another kiss as Connor pushed them over to lay on the grass as they kissed away their discomfort. Jude realized that he triggered the power when he and Connor were pushing. Hopefully they would avoid doing that again even though the truth was that he had actually seen a whole lot more than he admitted to Connor, but he was keeping that fact to himself!

**FRIDAY AFTERNOON**

It was suddenly Friday afternoon and Jude and Connor were sitting at a table at the end of the school day and Jude was unhappy. “I really hate this” Jude said sullenly.

Connor was playing with his hands and looked up. “What?” he asked quietly.

“Not getting to see you all weekend” Jude muttered.

“Want me to come down?” Connor offered. “Another beach rendezvous?” he teased.

Jude smiled. He would like that but he knew that there was a lot going on all weekend with the family and he just wanted to chill with his boyfriend. It was going to be another week before Connor could ‘officially’ come to visit and his mom had only agreed if Connor stayed with his dad, much to both of their dismay. Connor had tried to argue but his mom wouldn’t budge. She had said that his dad missed him and wanted the chance to start rebuilding their relationship. Connor had snapped that it wouldn’t have needed rebuilding if he wasn’t such a jerk, which almost got him grounded. 

“You didn’t!” Jude laughed at him.

“It wasn’t intentional, I swear!” Connor said sounding embarrassed. “She said that I would be grounded if I didn't watch out and I just kind of started to hover. I wasn’t even aware that I was doing it till she yelled at me about it. Said I was showing off and being an ass” Connor looked down in shame when he remembered how his mom had looked when he did that. “I did apologize Jude. But I just didn’t want to deal with dad during this visit is all and she understood after we talked. But I did get them to agree that you could come over and stay one night…that’s good right?”

Jude just nodded absently before going back to playing with Connor’s hair. Connor had his head in Jude’s lap as they talked and neither was in a real hurry to get home.

“So how is the secret learning stuff going?” Connor asked carefully wanting to avoid a repeat of the other day’s trauma.

“Good. Melissa thinks that I am a low-grade telepath” Jude said softy. Connor’s eyes popped open in surprise.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yeah. She and some others think that my power is triggered when another person attempts to be deceptive or lie. When someone forms the intent to deceive someone, a part of their brain activates and well it seems that I am able to ‘tune in’ when that happens. So if someone is being open and honest, I get nothing” Jude explained.

“So you are like a human lie detector?” Connor suggested.

“I guess, but more like I'm a super spy. I can find out secrets, but if you don’t have or aren’t thinking about them, I got nothing” Jude shook his head. “The truth is the more guilty or bothered by something, the faster I figure it out.”

“But now you are getting pictures and words?” Connor asked carefully.

Jude blushed briefly. “Yeah. At first it was just ‘knowing’. Like you walk up and say hi and it’s like I just know that you stole a car. But now I can say ‘How’s the family’ and I see you having an affair or a fight or hear the doctor saying ‘you’re pregnant’. It varies, but it seems that intent is a big element of it. One guy in class was able to keep that they planned a party for me a secret even though I questioned him and everything. But then this one girl walked by and didn’t say a word and I knew that she had used her x-ray vision to check you out in the locker room.”

“WHAT?!” Connor said sitting up.

Jude was giggling. “Yep! She got quite an eyeful” he was laughing at the look of terror on his boyfriend’s face.

“JUDE!” Connor was mortified.

“It wasn’t her fault” Jude finally choked out. “Her powers are sensory ones and she didn’t know she had x-ray vision till it turned on yesterday and she suddenly was looking at you in the locker room after your workout. She was very embarrassed” Jude assured him.

“Oh…” Connor, though still embarrassed, felt bad for the girl. “So it just turned on and she freaked out?” he asked.

Jude’s smile faltered a bit. “Well, she freaked out after…” he said slowly.

“After?” Connor asked confused.

“After your shower” Jude said looking up and waiting for Connor’s sudden comprehension and his blush. “Seems she was enjoying the show” Jude snickered at Connor’s face which was now beet red.

“Who” Connor growled out.

Jude shook his head as they stood up to head to the transport pads. “She really did feel bad Con” Jude comforted him. “Besides…I don’t think I would have looked away either if I was in her place” he teased him.

They kissed and split up as they headed home for the weekend.


	13. Family Matters

**SAN DIEGO – FRIDAY AFTERNOON**

Jude waved goodbye to Connor as the transport pad activated and he found himself back at the house. At least now his family had stopped waiting for him every day so he was able to step out without running into anyone. He walked into the house and didn’t hear anyone before he grabbed the water out of the fridge for a drink. He didn’t see or hear anyone so he decided to test his senses. Flashing his perceptions into the shadows he could see the whole house and that no one was home yet.

Stepping into the shadows he moved towards Anchor Beach and was able to spot Lena in her office with Monte. Smiling he moved into the room, but staying in the shadows he found he could hear their conversation.

“I’m not sure I understand why you don’t want Jesus on the wrestling team anymore” Monte was saying surprising Jude. 

“It’s complicated” Lena said obviously not wanting to talk about it. “Some stuff happened and Jesus needs to accept the consequences” she said simply. 

“The team is going to miss him” Monte sighed but didn’t push. “If things change, I am sure that Coach Miller will be glad to have him back” she said as she walked out of the office.

Lena frowned and shook her head. Jude noticed she was tense and looked nervous. She went back to her computer with a look of concentration on her face as she tapped away at the keyboard. Wanting to avoid getting caught Jude shifted into the hallway and looked around but didn’t sense anyone else around. He frowned and thought about his sister when he felt a tug and following Professor Sampson’s advice, he trusted his instincts and followed the tug and suddenly he was at a photo studio and he saw Callie being photographed. 

This must be the pictures that she was taking for her “Fost and Found” app that she had been talking about earlier. Jude saw everyone moving around to take her picture and he smiled at how great she looked, though she did seem nervous. Not wanting to intrude he moved back towards the house and saw that Mariana was now home by herself. Smirking he moved till he was right behind her as she was making a snack in the kitchen.

“Boo!” he said stepping out of the shadows.

Jude almost fell over laughing at the piercing scream that rang out from his sister when she heard him. The bowl of grapes went flying across the kitchen as she jumped and ricocheted off the cabinets. She turned on her little brother as tears poured from his eyes as he roared with laughter.

“YOU JERK!” she screamed slapping his shoulder. “That was NOT funny!” she pouted. 

“Sorry” Jude choked out between laughs as he tried to regain some control but every time he saw her flushed face he was set off again.

“What if I hadn’t been alone? Did you think about that?” Mariana said growling at Jude.

“Sorry…sorry Mariana, but I knew you were alone. I have been bouncing around since I got home” he told her.

“What do you mean?” she asked suddenly curious.

Jude smiled and sat on one of the stools. “I went to Anchor Beach and saw mama was there so I went into her office while she was on the computer. Then when I thought of Callie I felt this tug and when I followed it, I was at her photo shoot” Jude explained. 

“Wait…” Mariana’s face scrunched up. “How did you know where Callie was? Did she see you?” 

“I didn’t know. It was…when I thought of her I got a pull from her so it led me to her. I stayed in the shadows so neither of them saw me” Jude said carefully.

“So you can just find us?” Mariana asked.

“I…I don’t know” Jude stammered.

“Where is Brandon?” Mariana asked suddenly.

Jude frowned but thought about his brother and felt that tug. “I feel him but…he isn’t still. Maybe he is driving?”

Whipping out her phone Mariana called their brother. “What do you need Mariana?” Brandon’s voice came from the phone.

“Where are you?” Mariana asked quickly.

“I just dropped Mat off at his house and am coming home why?” he asked.

“Are you driving right now?” she pressed.

“Yes…why?” he answered.

“That is so cool!” she yelled and hung up.

“Mariana!” Jude said laughing. “You hung up on him.”

“Oh, he shouldn’t be on his phone anyway” she said tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Where is Jesus?” she asked smirking.

Jude shook his head but focused and felt that tug, but it was much, much closer. “Driveway” he replied causing Mariana to jump and run to the door. 

“Yes!” she squealed seeing her twin walking up the driveway to the front door. “Oh this is so cool.”

She pulled him into the living room and started pressing him for more information about what he was learning. When Jesus walked in he joined them as did Brandon and Callie. When Lena came home about an hour after Callie got there she had dinner for everyone.

They were setting up the table when Stef walked in and smiled. Grandma Sharon and her new boyfriend had left for the weekend so it was just the family and Jude could see that his mom was more relaxed with a break from the stress of her visit. Jude loved Sharon, but he knew her crazy ways got on his moms' nerves sometimes.

Stef was smiling and hugging everyone when she wrapped an arm around him and he froze. Looking at her his eyes widened in shock and he saw the confusion appear on her face as she watched his expression change from shock to fear. She suddenly looked scared but Jude took action and pulled both of them into the shadows. 

Stepping onto the beach beside Anchor Beach Stef gasped at the suddenly flash of light and dark that moving with Jude caused before she realized where she was. “Jude? What…why?” she said looking at him but losing the words when she saw his expression.

“I’m sorry” Jude said softly “but I panicked” he explained.

“Why?” Stef said carefully.

“My powers…when someone tries to lie or deceive me…it backfires. The more you try to hide something…the faster I find out” he says quietly.

Stef takes a deep breath and sits down on the bench next to her youngest. “So…you know?” she finally asks.

“About the cancer? Yes” Jude says softly.

“It’s really early Jude” she tells him carefully. “Mama and Grandma and I are all talking to the doctors. They caught it very early so that’s a really good thing. It’s scary, but it’s going to be okay” Stef hugs him.

“You don’t want the family to know?” he asks.

“Not yet” she says with a sigh. “Dana and Stewart are coming over tomorrow to stay for the night on their way through and with the new school year and everything…mama and I think it would be better to have some more facts before we talked about it.”

“I’m sorry…I didn’t mean to find out” Jude told her.

“I guess we better learn that keeping things from you isn’t a good idea” Stef says with a small laugh. “Maybe I should get you to help out at work” she teases him.

They sit together for a few more minutes before Jude takes them back to the house into his mom’s room. They come downstairs and when everyone asks Jude tells them that he wanted to show off his traveling to her which led to Stef having to try and describe it to the rest of them. They were laughing at her description and then everyone wanted to try it. Lena told them later as her parents were coming tomorrow so they needed to get the house ready.

 

**LOS ANGELES – FRIDAY AFTERNOON**

Connor stepped back in the house and sighed. The last week was awesome being able to spend nearly every class with Jude. The school had figured out that they would probably be partners based on the facts that (1) they were dating and (2) their powers were so in sync, not to mention that they were the strongest ranked students in the school. Connor was used to being at the top of things with baseball and soccer and just being well liked, so it wasn’t really different for him. But Connor knew that Jude was still hyper aware of the fact since so many people tried to be their friends and hang with them. 

Jude hadn’t had to deal with people wanting to be with him not because they liked him but because being seen with him raised their own status. He wondered how long it would take before their classmates learned that lying to Jude was not smart with his powers. He smiled and blushed again remembering that Jude knew about his evening shower ‘activities’ and he was pretty sure that Jude was being less than honest about what he saw. He noticed that Jude repeatedly blushed when he looked at Connor after that incident whenever he thought Connor wasn’t looking. 

“Connor?” he heard his mom call out from the living room.

“I’m home!” he called out and walked into the room and stopped seeing his mom wasn’t alone. The man sitting with her was nice, younger than she was, and well-dressed but Connor didn’t know him. “Uh…hello?” he said tentatively.

“Connor, this is Will, from Sky High” she introduced him and Connor relaxed a bit before tensing up again. 

“Hi” he said politely. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s fine Connor” Will said with a smile after shaking his hands. “I just wanted to officially meet you since I hadn’t got the chance yet. You know, from one Level 5 to another” he smiled again.

“You’re a Level 5 too?” Connor said surprised. 

“Yes. I wanted to talk with you for a bit if that’s okay” he said looking at Connor’s mom.

“Oh sure” she said jumping up. “I need to get started on dinner anyways” she said leaving the room as Will led Connor to the back yard.

“I didn’t want to go into specifics as I don’t know what all you have told your mom” Will said easily. “But I have already met Jude and after talking with Layla, thought you might want to chat. By the way, my parents are both supers so I can also talk a little about that if you want. Layla is my girlfriend, but she doesn’t do the public power stuff so it’s a bit different for us” Will finished.

Connor smiled and then really relaxed. “Did you get your powers from your parents then?” Connor asked.

“Yeah. I inherited my dad’s super strength and invulnerability and my mom’s flight and super speed” Will said happily. “Though they didn’t show up at the same time” he chuckled. “It is different being a legacy you know. Having famous parents who are also supers can put some pressure on you” Will told him. 

“Yeah…I guess” Connor muttered.

“Just because your parents didn’t have powers doesn’t make you any less a legacy Connor” Will assured him. “Your grandfathers were both well-known and people might put it together or not, but you will always know.”

They talked for another hour or so about being supers and when Connor’s mom invited Will to stay for dinner, he did. Connor liked Will and he even promised to go flying with Connor one day too. It was a great night and helped him understand some of what being a famous super was going to be like. With Connor’s looks and powers, Will had warned him that once he ‘debuted’ there would probably be some serious attention and that would be even more so if and when it came out about him and Jude. The conversation gave him a lot to think about.

 

**SATURDAY AT THE ADAMS FOSTER HOUSE**

Dana and Stewart arrived right after lunch to visit the family and everyone was being especially careful since they didn’t want to tell them about Jude’s new situation and so after a quick greeting, he ducked out to hide in his room to avoid any risk.

“How’s Jude doing?” Dana asked her daughter as they stood in the kitchen.

“He’s doing okay, why?” Lena replied a touch too quickly.

Dana looked at her daughter, concern clear on her face. “Honey, his first love just moved away because his dad couldn’t deal with them being together. I would think that he would be depressed, angry or something” she said trying to sound reasonable.

Lena sighed in relief. “He is a little of all of that mom. But he and Connor talk every day after school and Connor is coming down next weekend to visit. It’s tough on them, but he is focusing on school and making new friends” Lena said trying to sound positive.

“I would have thought school would make it harder, not seeing him like he used to do. Familiar places can often be tough” she mused.

“Well luckily that’s not a problem with his new school” Lena said not thinking about what she was saying till she finished and then she froze hoping her mom missed it.

“What do you mean new school?” Dana said suddenly intensely focused. She heard it!

Lena closed her eyes for a moment to collect herself. “Jude got invited to a special school for this year so he is attending it” Lena told her mother.

“What kind of school? Where is it?” Dana asked suspiciously.

Lena smiled as she looked at her mom. “It’s called the Davis Institute. They focus on students with special aptitudes and skills. Jude scored exceptionally high on their assessment test and was offered a full scholarship to attend. They only have about 100 students and it’s here in San Diego” Lena told the prepared story. “The school uses their tests to help the students develop a special curriculum to help them realize their full potential. In fact, in one of his classes, it is Jude and one other student with the professor” she adds.

“They have a class with a 2:1 ratio?” Dana asks in disbelief. “That’s unheard of!”

“I know. Apparently it’s all funded by this rich, eccentric billionaire who wants to change the world” Lena chuckles a bit. “The school is very private and exclusive. I got to go on a tour and was very, very impressed. Jude has been loving it and he is really coming into his own” she told her mother.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Dana asked her daughter.

“Jude wanted to wait to see if he really liked it before we told anyone” Lena explained. “With everything with Connor, it was just a lot for him to manage.”

Lena and Dana talked a bit more before the whole family went out to dinner and had a great time. They came back and talked about school and everything going on and Jude shared a very edited account of his classes with his grandparents before everyone turned in for the night. Jude had offered Brandon his bed in his room since he had to give up his room for their grandparents and offered to sleep on the couch. Around 1:00am Jude, still wide awake sent a text to Connor who quickly responded and they agreed to meet on the beach.

Jude shadow walked to the beach about ten minutes later and sat down to await his boyfriend.

“Hey” Connor said landing beside Jude silently.

“You are getting better at that” Jude said standing up to hug his boyfriend. “I didn’t hear or see you this time!”

“Yeah” Connor said smiling as they sat back down. “I have been practicing flying without the sound or light. Since I don’t really need them to fly, it’s like a sparkler: pretty but pointless.” Connor laughs at Jude’s raised eyebrow. “Okay…that might have been a quote from Sampson” Connor admitted.

Jude laughed at the smirk on Connor’s face. “I met a Level 5 yesterday…from the school. He said he already met you but wanted to meet me. Name’s Will” Connor told him.

“Will Stronghold” Jude said nodding. “You know he is Sentinel, right?” Jude asked and then laughed at Connor’s stricken reaction.

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!” Connor yelled. “I met Sentinel? He offered to train with me?” he said with a huge smile. “That’s awesome!” he fist pumped.

“Down boy!” Jude laughed as he grabbed Connor’s leg and pulled him down as he had hovered up about a foot off the sand. “Yes. He came to our house to recruit me. Knocked him into the back yard” Jude snickered.

“What?!” Connor was shocked. “But your top strength level isn’t stronger than him” Connor was confused.

“He hadn’t expected me to be strong so he didn’t brace himself” Jude explained. “So when I hit him he went flying through the window. He wasn’t hurt and if we went one-on-one I wouldn’t be able to do it again unless maybe you were supercharging me…but you might be able to” Jude mused.

“You think I could?” Connor said with a smirk.

“Prof Sampson said you are definitely at the top of the range so maybe” Jude shrugged. “Did you really want to talk about classes” he questioned. Connor got the hint and wrapped Jude up in his arms and they sat for a while watching the waves. “A bit cold huh?” Jude said after a bit.

“Not really” Connor said sounding confused. 

Jude sighed. “Connor…that means I want you to generate heat” Jude said slowly.

“Sorry” Connor blushed and started generating heat but felt it being absorbed as fast as he put it out as Jude soaked it in with a sigh.

Jude told him about his grandparents being there but not about Stef’s medical issue. He knew that Connor would want to support him but he felt he needed to respect her privacy until he learned about it ‘officially’. 

They hung out till about 3am when Jude figured he better get back to the house. Kissing Connor goodbye took another half hour but he felt better when Connor finally took off into the sky. Smiling after his boyfriend Jude shadow walked back to the house but saw someone in the kitchen so he diverted to the patio. Waiting for a moment, he slipped back in the living room and was sitting back on the couch when the light flipped on and he heard a voice.

“Have a nice trip?” Jude froze and looked up at Dana Adams standing there, arms crossed in front of her.


	14. Family Pressure

“Have a nice trip?” Jude froze and looked up at Dana Adams standing there, arms crossed in front of her.

Jude looked at his grandmother standing there in her robe, arms crossed, looking very unhappy. “Huh?” he said so articulately.

“Sneaking out in the middle of the night Jude?” Dana was shaking her head, clearly disappointed. “Brandon or Jesus, them I wouldn’t be surprised by, but I thought that you knew better than to sneak out.”

“I just needed to walk around a bit to clear my head” Jude said sheepishly.

“A walk? At 3AM? Jude I can’t even begin to explain how wrong that is. It isn’t safe to be out alone at this time. I went into the back yard so I know you were not just getting some air” she added when he opened his mouth to object. “Go to bed. I will talk to your moms in the morning” she said and turned to walk back upstairs as Jude sat down on the couch and leaned his head back on the couch dreading the conversation in the morning.

Jude woke up before the rest of the house and checked his phone. 6:20am. Try as he might it was getting impossible for him to sleep for more than three hours and he hadn’t had the chance to ask Professor Sampson if that was normal. It’s not like he felt tired or stressed or anything, he actually felt pretty well rested even with less sleep.

Knowing it was pointless to lay there he got up and headed to the kitchen and started making some breakfast. He had put the coffee on, though he hated the stuff, but he figured with four adults in the house, plus Callie, who all drank coffee someone was sure to want it. He decided to make pancakes to tide him over till everyone woke up. He had stopped eating like a horse thank god but he still had a hearty appetite. Apparently his body was adding muscle and mass and he was using food as fuel and building material as his powers shaped his body. Professor Sampson and the medical team said he would probably go through several more “gorgings” until he became stable. 

He was working on autopilot when he realized he had also made oatmeal, bacon, and was cutting fruit when the pancakes came off the grill. 

“Jude?” he looked up to see Grandpa Stewart standing there looking surprised. “Are you making breakfast? And you are up so early!” he laughed as he came in and sat down at the table.

Jude smiled and grabbed a cup and the coffee pot putting it in front of him. “I am an early riser” Jude smiled. “Since I was up I figured I would get started on cooking…you hungry?”

Stewart nodded and Jude started moving food to the table and Stewart filled his plate as Jude did and they started eating. “This is really good Jude. Is Lena teaching you to cook?” he asked with a wink.

“Actually yes” Jude laughed. “I mean I cooked for Callie and myself a lot in foster care, but mama has been teaching me some stuff since we came. I like cooking, it’s really fun to do it with Connor as he really enjoys it too” Jude chuckles.

“Why’s that so funny?” Stewart asks curiously.

“Well his dad is really big on the macho stuff and cooking isn’t macho. Grilling…sure, but not cooking. Connor enjoyed learning and has even spent time cooking with mama and me” Jude said with a smile. “I think he enjoys doing stuff that makes his dad squirm.”

His grandfather chuckled. At that point he heard noise and looked up to see Lena and Dana coming in to the kitchen.

“Morning dad, Jude” Lena said with a smile as she kissed Jude’s head. “Thank you honey” Lena said as she grabbed a mug to make her morning tea.

“Surprised to see you up so early Jude” Dana said giving him ‘the look’.

“Jude’s been quite the morning person lately” Lena said with a smile. “I don’t think he has slept past 6:30am even on weekends.” She sat down next to her father with a smile as she started to fill her plate.

“I’m going to grab a shower” Jude said noticing the confused look on Dana’s face as she looked at him obviously trying to reconcile why he was waking up so early after sneaking out but he didn’t want anything to start so he dashed out and headed for the bathroom. He realized that his brothers were still asleep but that was the easy part. Shutting the door to the bathroom he slipped into the shadows, moved inside the bedroom and then pulled new clothes into the shadows before stepping back into the bathroom. 

Jude laughed at how easy it was as he jumped into the shower. He smiled when he remembered the vision from Connor and he quickly pushed it out of his mind…he wasn’t going to do anything like that with the whole family here!!

Finishing quickly, Jude headed downstairs and went to clean up his ‘bed’ on the sofa when he heard a noise behind him. “Jude” he looked up and saw Stef and Lena standing there looking concerned. “We need to talk” Stef continued.

Jude nodded and sat down on the sofa as his moms sat down. “Dana told us she came down last night and you were gone and that you came in from the backyard at three in the morning. You told her that you were out for a walk?” Stef looked frustrated.

“Jude, you know that’s not smart, it can be dangerous” Lena started but froze when Jude gave her a look that spoke volumes. “Okay, maybe dangerous is the wrong word.”

“Mama, you know I’m not in any danger going out at night” Jude reminded her.

Stef sighed. “We know Jude, we might forget now and then, but why were you out so late?” she asked, concern clear in her voice.

Jude heaved his breath and shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just that I don’t really sleep that much” Jude explained. “After about three hours I’m wide awake. I just don’t get tired” he said with another shrug.

“How long has this been happening?” Lena asked quietly.

“About six days I guess” Jude said thoughtfully. “I mean it just kind of happened where I was not tired. I would go to sleep normally and be awake a few hours later. Some nights I don’t even sleep” Jude admitted and when he saw Lena looking concerned he continued “but I don’t get tired at school either. It’s just like I don’t need as much sleep anymore.”

“Okay, we can talk about that later” Stef sighs, “but going out alone at night?”

Jude frowned but figured he should be honest. “Mom, you know that I am pretty safe at night, but to be honest…I wasn’t actually alone” he confessed.

“You weren’t? Who were you with?” Stef asked quickly.

“My classmate, the guy I told you about, the other level 5” Jude said. “He flew down from LA where he lives. Since he can fly at superspeed, it only takes him a few minutes and we hang out at the beach.” Jude smirks at their faces and chuckles. “You gotta admit I’m pretty safe with the two of us together” he teases his moms.

Lena sighs and shakes her head.

“So let me understand this” Stef says slowly. “You, who has a boyfriend, have been having late night rendezvous with your classmate, who you said was also cute. Do I have this correctly? Is he interested in you?” she asked.

Jude froze for a second before asking. “I’m not cheating on Connor mom” he said clearly. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“I didn’t say you would honey, but putting yourself in that kind of situation can be awkward and difficult even if the interest is only one-sided” she said carefully. Lena took a deep breath and looked carefully at Stef.

Jude heard that whisper and his eyes got wide before turning to look at Lena. “Monte kissed you?” he whisper yelled. “Why would she do that?”

Lena looked shocked and looked at Stef for help but she was just as startled. “She’s bisexual?” Jude continued, feeling very shocked. He turned to Stef “This is what you have been fighting over?” he asked stunned.

“Damn it Jude” Stef groaned and put her hand over her face. “You really need to stop doing that” she told him. 

“Sorry” Jude said suddenly contrite. “I’m not doing too good with managing this power am I?” he looked back sadly at Lena. “Sorry mama, I know that it was a shock when she kissed you.”

Stef raised an eyebrow when she processed what Jude just said. He basically confirmed Lena’s explanation of the events which made things a little easier. She smiled at Lena for a moment before responding. “Not really baby” Stef agreed. “You need to try not to pry, but if you learn something, you need to be quiet about it. You now have two things to keep from your brothers and sisters.”

“Two things?” Lena said concerned.

“Jude knows about my cancer” Stef told her wife and saw the concern and fear on her face. 

They talked a bit more but people were moving around more and they decided to continue later which actually didn’t happen. The truth was that Jude’s powers did make it safe to be out but he did agree to talk to the medical staff about his sleeping habits and his moms really wanted to meet his classmate!

* * *

**LOS ANGELES**

Connor was bored. The weekend was dragging along and he realized that he didn’t have anything to keep him busy, not really. Since he was going to Sky High, he didn’t really know any kids his own age around their house here in LA. He finished his homework early and even spending a few hours at the beach with Jude didn’t use up much time. Like Jude, he was finding it hard to sleep. He could lay down and even drift off, but rarely for more than an hour before he got restless and had to get up. 

Suddenly adding another eight or so hours to his day made him a lot more productive. Then add in the time he used to spend working out or skateboarding and he had even more time. He tried to spend time playing video games but he had already broken three controllers whenever he got excited and forgot his strength. The plastic snapped like popping a soap bubble and one time he even melted his controller and almost set fire to the couch. He made sure to be extra careful with his phone… ‘huh, I wonder if I can get the tech lab to make a super strong phone and game controller’ Connor wondered.

“Hey honey!” Connor’s mom said as she walked in the house. Connor got up and walked over to her as she walked in. “What have you been doing today?” she asked happily.

“Nothing” Connor muttered. At her look he just sighed “I mean it. It just feels different here and not really knowing anyone.”

“Do you know anyone from school you can play with?” his mom asked as she started pulling out stuff to make dinner.

“Play with?” Connor asked sarcastically.

His mom gave him the ‘look’ and rolled her eyes. “Sorry” she said feeling the teen angst rolling off of her son, “but you know what I meant.”

“Well there is one guy, but he doesn’t live in LA” Connor admits. “The guy I told you about that I am partnered with…I like hanging out with him but I would have to fly to see him.”

“Not sure how I feel about that” his mom admitted. “But…I guess you flying around is more like a regular kid riding his bike. Where does he live?” she asked.

“Um…I’m not sure I’m allowed to say. Let’s just say he lives about 20 minutes from here…as I fly” he says with a smirk.

His mom looks at him and remembered how her dad said that Connor was a faster flyer than he was which meant that Connor could go faster than the speed of sound which meant hundreds of miles. “Let’s put a pin in that one right now” she said. “Have you talked to your dad recently?”

Connor frowned and sat down at the table. “No” Connor growled.

His mom sighed and came over to sit with him. “Connor I know it’s hard, but he is trying. But you can’t fix things if you aren’t willing to try.”

“Mom…he always says he is trying but he keeps doing it. If I even grab Jude’s hand, he flinches. If he talks about him or anything that has me being gay, his voice gives him away. I had to move away from my school, my friends, and Jude because I couldn’t deal anymore. Then all this power stuff started happening…and…I don’t know” Connor trailed off. 

“You think he’s only happy with you because you are a super” his mom said clearly. Connor looked up at her sharply with surprise clear on his face. She is watching him and smiles softly. “The thought occurred to me too” she admits. “Your dad…he was raised as the son of a hero he worshipped and his dad messed up badly. Your grandfather Stevens never even considered that his son wouldn’t be a super like him. He basically promised him that he would and raised him to be a super. When Adam found out he wasn’t, he was crushed and his dad didn’t react well. Adam felt he was a disappointment to his dad and his dad…well, his behavior said the same thing.”

“Grandpa Stevens was disappointed in dad? But it wasn’t his fault he didn’t have powers” Connor was shocked and angry.

“I know, but he was…difficult. He wanted an heir to follow him and when Adam couldn’t, he felt let down and took it out on his son. Your grandma explained it to me later but it took a long time for William to realize what he had done and by then there was too much between them to fix easily and then he was gone, killed in battle. Your dad didn’t get to fix things with his dad. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you” she says hugging her son.

Connor has a lot to think about and decides to head upstairs and try to take a nap. School is tomorrow and then Friday he is going to San Diego so he will just wait and see.

* * *

**SKY HIGH – WEEK TWO**

Jude stepped off the transport platform and smiled when he saw Connor standing there. They walked, hands intertwined, to the main building as they caught up on their weekends. Jude told about getting caught and that Stef was worried he might be leading on his classmate or even cheating on him…with him. Connor laughed a bit before sharing his conversation with his mom about his dad and grandfather. Jude was pretty surprised to find him feeling sympathy for Adam after everything, but he did.

They walked into their first class with Professor Sampson who after a grueling workout was able to answer some questions they were having. Both of them could sleep, but while Connor really didn’t need it physically, he did need to “shut down” his brain every so often so naps were good for him. Jude did need to sleep, but his body took much better advantage of it so he only needed a few hours to function and pulling an all-nighter didn’t really put much stress on him. That would make their moms happy.

He also suggested talking to the tech labs about building them some high density tools that would be more resistant to their strength. 

The biggest surprise came when after touching Jude he was able to confirm that Jude’s powers were still growing and developing. His “secret finding” abilities were developing quickly and he was pushing his boundaries that surprised the Professor. He told them that he was going to ask Sentinel and some other high level supers to help out with their training pretty soon. After that, he left them to work out in their small room off the gym. After an epic 1:1, both boys were drenched in sweat and sore.

They headed to the main gym where they were asked to join the rest of their class to observe a new training technique. There was this crazy set up of a mannequin hanging over a pit with all sorts of crazy machines. Two seniors were introduced, Billy a level 3 speedster and Mandy a level 3 telekinetic, were the ‘villains’ who had kidnapped the ‘citizen’ who they would be expected to rescue before it was dropped in the pit. Two other students, Donnie and Douglas – the guys from Rachel’s old harem, were the ‘heroes’ who had to rescue the citizen.

The next five minutes were awesome! Donnie and Douglas both attacked the ‘villains’ and Connor had to admit they really tried, but Mandy and Billy were a great team. They obviously worked together and they were quick to shift strategies and even partners. They managed to hold off the younger boys until the citizen was mulched in the machine. There was a lot of yelling and cheering and groans when the heroes were beaten but they found out that Billy and Mandy were dating and had been a ‘Save the Citizen’ team since they were freshman.

Coach told them that over the course of the week, all of them would get to be heroes against a team of older students as the villains. As the class broke up, the coach called out “Jude, Connor, please stay back for a minute.”

They waited as he talked to the four upperclassmen, thanking them, before turning towards the two waiting boys. “Boys…we are going to do things a bit different for you two. With your power levels, I am not sure I can find a team to make it a challenge after what I heard about in the cafeteria last week” he was smiling as he said this. “I have some ideas, but I am going to need some time to make it work so you won’t go till Friday. I do expect you to be at each time though, watching and learning. Any questions?” he said quickly.

They shook their heads and he walked off.

“You know he’s going to make it next to impossible” Jude says softly to Connor who only nods. “I have a telepath tutoring exercise with Melissa next…you?”

“I am working with Professor Wiu. He can generate laser blasts like I can and is working with me on controlling size, strength, etc. Wants me to be able to burn off a layer a paint off a wall without harming the wall up to melting steel. Then controlling the size so I can light a match or melt a glacier. It’s hard, but he says I am making progress” Connor says happily.

They talk for a bit before heading towards the locker room and by the time they get in everyone else is already gone. Jude grabs his soap and towel and freezes looking at Connor and realizes that they are about to shower…together…alone. “Connor?” his voice cracks.

Connor looks over at Jude and sees the fear and uncertainty in his face. “Jude?” he asks suddenly protective. “What’s wrong?”

Jude looks at his boyfriend standing there, shirtless in his gym shorts. “Shower?” he croaks and sees Connor suddenly blush. 

“Oh” Connor mumbles. “Uh…I can wait here till your done if you want?” Connor offers quietly.

Jude looks at him and lifts a trembling hand to touch Connor’s arm. Connor looks up at him and Jude hears a whisper…and looks down with a smile on his face. Taking a deep breath he shakes his head. “Maybe…maybe you could help me with something” Jude says in low voice, barely above a whisper.

“What?” Connor says, his voice as low.

“Wash my back?”


	15. Save the Citizen

Jude took a breath as he finished tying his shoelace trying to avoid looking over at Connor who was fastening his jeans, still shirtless, but he failed and looked over only to see Connor looking over at him at the same time. Their eyes met and both blushed and Jude tried, he really tried, to keep it in, but he started giggling.

Connor snickered which caused Jude to blush again. “Jude” Connor said trying to sound firm, but with a way too happy voice.

“Sorry!” Jude apologizes still giggling as he reached for his other shoe. He finally got some control and they both were able to focus again.

They managed to stay quiet for a few minutes when Jude looked back and saw Connor pulling on his shirt. He had a clear view of Connor’s chest and abs and since the shirt was over his face he didn’t worry about getting caught looking but he got lost in the view and then heard “Jude!” Connor said laughing again.

Jude blushed and turned away “I know” he said a mix of guilt and happiness. “I…it’s just…” he started blushing and giggling again. Which of course set Connor off on his laughing.

Jude finally regained enough control to start taking slow, deep breaths. Gaining some control he finally looked over at Connor and seeing him fully clothed helped. But then he caught a flash of their shower and he lost it all over again.

Connor, who was desperately trying to get his own control, gave up and grabbed ahold of Jude and pulled him into a hug and when Jude paused to look up, Connor seized the chance and leaned in to kiss Jude fiercely. Suddenly the giggles were gone and their breath was being used for something else. After what seemed like forever they pulled apart but stayed close.

“Better?” Connor whispered.

“Different problem” Jude said with a smirk and glanced down. 

“My eyes are up here” Connor teased.

“I know” Jude answered but didn’t look up for another moment before he looked at the blonde and smiled. “Okay…think I have control…at least for a minute or so.”

“Well you better because if we start giggling and blushing, I am fairly sure our friends will figure out something is up” Connor said resting his forehead against Jude’s.

Jude groaned. “I have to work with Melissa next remember? Trying to keep what happened out of my mind is going to be hard.”

Connor snickered. “Hard” he snorted.

Jude punched him. “Pervert!”

“I’m serious Jude” Connor said with a smile. “It’s not like we did anything…technically.”

Jude raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend with the barest hint of a smirk on his face.

“I’ve showered with teammates before you know?” Connor rationalized. “It wasn’t that much different from that, you know?”

Jude laughed at the face Connor made when he said that. “Wow” Jude replied. “If I had known that you took those kinds of showers, then I would have been way more enthusiastic about joining a sports team.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “Jude!”

“So tell me more about these showers with your baseball and soccer teammates” he teased. “I mean this could totally get gay kids more interested in sports!”

“Okay, fine!” Connor gave up. “We never showered together like THAT!” he admits with a laugh. “But we kept our hands above the waist, so it wasn’t like we really did anything we weren’t supposed to!”

Jude laughed at Connor’s rationalization. “I am pretty sure that your dad and my moms would not agree with that statement” Jude teased him but then he smiled. “I will admit that it was a lot of fun. I will say that I wasn’t actually meaning it when I asked you to ‘wash my back’ though” he confessed.

Connor smiled but knew that neither of them were really ready for doing too much more yet. Just being in the shower together, washing up a bit and nothing rated R. Though Connor knew that they both had really enjoyed seeing each other and being able to touch even if they limited where their hands went. To be honest, having Jude wash his hair for him was his second favorite part of the whole thing. He was honest enough with himself to admit that seeing Jude naked was his favorite part!

“This stinks” Jude said breaking his train of thought.

“What?” Connor asked.

“Since you aren’t trying to hide or lie to me, I can’t figure out what you are thinking about” Jude grumbled but Connor just laughed.

“I found your weakness” Connor teased. “I was thinking how much I liked you washing my hair” he admitted.

Jude blushed again and looked away. Jude had enjoyed the whole experience more than he thought he would and he did really enjoy that part a lot. Connor had returned the favor and it was amazing. But they were going to be late. 

 

Connor walked into the cafeteria and looked for their group, nodding and smiling at all the people who waved or said hi to him. He was used to people knowing he was but he had never been quite so well known before. He was fairly sure that everyone at Sky High, student or teacher, knew him and Jude by sight while they were still trying to learn people’s names. He finally saw Peter and Jacob sitting with the girls and he headed over and sat down. He had only been there for a few minutes when he finally saw Jude walk in with Melissa. They were walking over together and while Jude was looking flushed, Melissa had a huge smile on her face when she looked at him.

“Hi Connor!” Melissa said cheerfully. 

“Hi” Connor answered carefully. He noticed Jude wasn’t looking at anyone but he was blushing. 

“So how did gym go? I know I always hate getting all sweaty and gross and having to take a shower” she said with a gleam in her eye. “Of course I supposed not everyone is upset about showering at school” she smirks as she looks at him.

Connor froze and looked at Melissa and saw her looking at him and realized that they came from telepathic training and…he blushed and she laughed out loud. Damn it! He looked over at Jude who was looking so guilty and suddenly Connor realized that she must have seen their shower in his memories. 

The others were looking at them confused and Connor could tell that she had been teasing Jude for a while and was planning to do the same to him.

But that also gave him an idea.

“So Melissa…do you have a boyfriend…or girlfriend?” Connor asked casually.

She smiled at him and laughed again. “I do have a boyfriend Connor” she said happily. 

“That’s cool” Connor said as he reached for his drink. “Have you hooked up yet?” he asks suddenly causing everyone to suddenly get quiet as they looked at him in surprise.

Melissa looked stunned and she stammered “Wh…what?” she barely got out.

“You know…hooked up? Done the deed? Gone all the way?” Connor said grinning at her sudden blush.

“That’s none of your business!” she stammered.

But it was enough and Connor, who had been watching Jude on the side, saw the moment when Jude’s eyes flashed and he got his own smirk. “Bryan?” he suddenly asked.

Melissa paled as she spun around to look at Jude. Connor saw her eyes widen as she realized that Jude had just ‘tuned in’ to her when she tried to hide from Connor’s question. She spun back and looked at Connor with a glare but she couldn’t fully hide the slight twist to her lips. “Well played” she grudgingly said finally and nodded at Connor. Standing up she looked at Jude and blushed and then shook her head. “I think I underestimated you two” she admitted.

Connor smiled and looked at Jude and felt warmer. “We’re a team” he said simply and she nodded. Smiling at the rest of the table she walked off leaving everyone else confused.

“Okay” Jacob said after a moment of silence “what the hell was that?”

Jude and Connor looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. The rest of lunch consisted of their friends trying, unsuccessfully, to get answers but Jude and Connor refused to explain and just said it was a ‘training thing’ to the gang.

* * *

 

**AT THE ADAMS-FOSTER HOUSE**

Jude walked into the house and stepped into the kitchen where he saw Mariana and Jesus arguing about something…again.

“I don’t understand why you like that guy, he’s such a jerk” Mariana complained.

“He’s cool” Jesus says with a sigh. “Besides it’s not like you have to like him.”

“I do when you invite him over” Mariana grumbles as she stomps off.

Jesus rolls his eyes as he pulls out some sodas from the fridge.

“What’s going on?” Jude asks carefully. Jesus jumps and drops one of the cans but Jude lunges and catches it before it hits the floor.

“Wow” Jesus whispers. “Jude you moved so fast!” he says admiration in his voice. “When did you get home?” he suddenly asks.

“Just now and I still have a bit of charge from school” Jude says with a smile. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Jesus nods and starts to move towards the stairs and Jude follows along. “It’s fine. Mari is just being a pain. There’s a new guy at school and she doesn’t like him.”

“Why?” Jude asks.

“I don’t know” Jesus says with a long suffering look for his twin’s eccentricities. “Nick is a cool guy. Has an awesome car but she thinks he’s a jerk.”

Jude smiles. Jesus tells him that he kind of wonders if maybe Nick might interested Mariana despite their agreement not to date each other’s friends. “We are going to hang out in the room for a bit” Jesus continues and looks over at Jude expectantly. “So I’m claiming the room for the afternoon” he adds.

Jude looks at his brother for a minute before smirking. “Wrestle you for it?” he teases and then laughs at Jesus’ expression when he realizes that he and his friend wouldn’t have a chance. “Just kidding” Jude laughs, “I just need to drop off some stuff and grab my charger” Jude assures him.

They walk into the room and Jude sees the source of all the conflict with the twins. Nick seems like a player to Jude’s initial impression. Jesus introduces them and he shakes Jude’s hand and smiles politely. Jude sets his bag down and grabs his cord as Jesus hands Nick a soda. Nick grabs it and smiles “Thanks” he says and turns to sit down.

Jude suddenly hears that secret whisper and he smiles before managing to cover his mouth with his hand. He looks over at Nick and heads out before his face gives him away. Walking down the stairs he manages to keep from chuckling and wondering if Jesus realizes that his new friend is definitely interested in one of the twins. It’s just not the twin that he thought it was; Nick is seriously crushing on Jesus!

* * *

 

**LOS ANGELES – STEVENS HOUSE**

Connor walked back into his house after school on Wednesday and decided to go ahead and start packing for the weekend. He was going to San Diego on Friday after school so he wanted to be ready by tomorrow so they could head out immediately after he got home. He walked upstairs and, moving around his room, he started gathering his stuff. He had talked with his dad yesterday and Stef and Lena had invited Connor, his mom, and Adam for dinner with the whole family.

Connor and Jude had decided that they were going to tell both families at that point that they were both supers and were together at Sky High. Connor wanted to just tell them but Jude wanted to mess with them and do something dramatic. Well, Connor was sure that it was mostly Adam he wanted to mess with, but he also was enjoying teasing his siblings and moms even though they didn’t know he was doing it.

Connor had talked to Adam several times about his work at Sky High and the fact that Connor was a Level 5 had pretty much blown his dad away. Adam had gone on for some time about that and how proud he was. He had called Connor’s grandmother and she had called Connor to wish him well and told him how excited his dad was. 

When Adam found out that there was another Level 5 at school, he was annoyed at first Connor could tell. But all that changed when his dad discovered that Shadow (Connor’s Code name for Jude with his family) was his partner and how their powers made them a natural team. And how the school was having to design a special curriculum because they were so strong together. He even told his dad that he was going to get to train with Sentinel, Commander and Jetstream, and others. 

Yesterday’s discussion with his dad was mostly about his training and how Prof. Sampson was working with them. Finding out that Connor could fly supersonic, he was now able to go Mach 2 for a few seconds at least, had made his dad ecstatic. It was like when he came to Connor’s games and Connor made a really great play.

He wished that his dad would just be happy if Connor was happy rather than for doing things like sports or flying but his dad still didn’t get it. In all their calls, he hadn’t once mentioned Jude or the fact that he had to leave his boyfriend because of Adam. When Connor told him about the dinner with the Adams-Fosters he could tell Adam wasn’t really excited about it but his mom suggested that maybe it was because he didn’t want to have to face all of them when they knew he was the reason Connor had moved. 

Connor had really wanted to tell his mom about Jude but they had agreed to wait so he was biting his tongue. Connor was driving down with his mom on Friday so she could join everyone for dinner. Connor had suggested it so that it wouldn’t look suspicious when he showed up and that he way he could just fly home and Jude’s family would assume Adam was going to drive him back. He felt a little bad about the lie, but he really did want her to come to the dinner so they could tell everyone together and he was looking forward to the car ride as well.

Smiling, Connor finished packing and then reached for his phone to see if Jude was free to talk before dinner.

* * *

 

**FRIDAY AT SKY HIGH**

Jude and Connor were getting dressed in the locker room for their chance to play ‘Save the Citizen’ after waiting all week and watching their classmates pretty much get slaughtered. The week seemed to start off okay with Jacob and Peter facing the first ‘villains’: Ethan, a speedster and Malcolm, who generates electricity. They did okay Jude thought, but it was still hard to watch. Peter had flew up to rescue the ‘citizen’ until Malcolm blasted him and he went down but wasn’t exactly out. Ethan was keeping Jacob busy until Malcolm finally managed a really strong blast and knocked out Peter and then he turned on Jacob. He didn’t want to laugh but remembering Jacob’s fur all standing on end when he was shocked was still kind of funny.

The rest of their classmates fared much worse. Even those who didn’t have strong or offensive powers were required to try and Alex and Angie were partnered with guys who had more physical powers but their teams didn’t even last 30 seconds before being taken down. Wayne tried to take over the hostage machine but his partner was quickly taken out since it was two on one and then he was left alone and they knocked him down shortly after. Their class was zero on saves.

Then they got to see some of the sophomore class trying as well, for educational purposes, but they struggled as well. Even when Ethan and Malcolm were the ‘heroes’ they were taken out. Only three teams had actually rescued the citizen all week. Their instructor explained that this was intentional when someone asked. Villains didn’t follow rules so they had the edge when the heroes held to their moral code. The heroes had to work harder if they wanted to win.

Connor and Jude had talked about it each day and they had asked Professor Sampson who confirmed that the test was designed to put the heroes at a disadvantage, but it was not impossible by any means. You just needed to find your strategy and act from a position of strength.

So it was now their turn and they walked into the gym and immediately saw that the set-up was different this time. Instead of the typical citizen in the center of the room, it was at the opposite end. Malcolm and Ethan were standing at the half court line and not only were all their classmates watching from the stands, but the stands were totally packed. At least half the school must have been there. Jude and Connor looked at each other nervously and Connor reached to grab Jude’s hand.

Jude was surprised at first, Connor had been so excited he didn’t think he would have gotten nervous all of a sudden but then he realized that Connor was generating heat and energy in his hand and Jude started absorbing it. He was boosting Jude’s powers before the start so they would be in top form.

They walked up to Coach who explained that things were going to be different. They had to get to the end of the gym to ‘save the citizen’ but that the normal rules didn’t apply in this game so they needed to expect the unexpected. He was smiling way too much for either of their comfort level.

But he stepped back and called for everyone to take their place. Jude noticed that the clock, which normally was set to three minutes, was set to ten. They had way more time which meant that Coach was definitely up to something.

Jude and Connor had discussed their strategy and while the idea of Jude going shadow and pulling the citizen in at the beginning was discussed, they were sure that he would have prepared for that. So instead they were going to eliminate the ‘villains’ first.

Coach blew his whistle and Malcom blasted at Jude while Ethan ran toward him at super speed. It was a good plan Jude thought. If Jude hadn’t been getting powered up by Connor it might have even been successful, but Jude’s enhanced speed, while not at Ethan’s level, was enough for him to move just enough to dodge Malcolm’s bolt while Connor flashed. 

Connor had been training on that with Professor Wiu as part of his energy training though they bet that most of the others didn’t know about it. Connor had emitted a massive flash of light with almost no heat and was even able to direct it forward so that the audience on either side didn’t get it too bad. However Jude didn’t absorb any of it so Malcolm who was looking right at them got a full blast in the face and he threw his hands up and fell back temporarily blinded. 

Ethan got it much worse. He had been running towards Jude and so he also got blinded. And while he managed to slow down immediately, he still had a lot of momentum and he was still moving pretty fast when Jude clotheslined him. Throwing out his arm, Ethan ran right into it, his legs flying up and landing flat on his back with the wind knocked out of him.

Jude looked up and saw five seconds had passed and both of the ‘villains’ were down. The audience was deathly silent for a heartbeat before they erupted in screams.

Connor smiled over at him and stepped forward when Jude saw the rock smash into Connor flinging him backwards across the gym. Looking back in shock Jude saw three students standing there. Caleb, with his water powers, Martin, the guy who had hurled the rock at Connor, and Tina, with her fire powers and they had all turned toward Jude and were preparing to strike when he slipped into the shadows.

He saw them suddenly look nervous when he grabbed Caleb and pulled him in the darkness. Caleb freaked when he couldn’t summon any water and Jude felt bad when he knocked him out…again. But as he turned towards the other two Tina summoned a giant fireball around herself and it was driving his shadows away so he couldn’t grab her. He was working on an idea when he heard a thunderous sound.

Connor shattered the rock that had hit him and was looking around and Martin suddenly turned and was sending more rocks while Tina threw a fireball at Connor. Jude smiled and stepped out of the shadows next to Tina and she jumped back and blasted at him but Jude was ready and he absorbed her fire blast. He saw her eyes widen in shock as she realized her fire powers were useless so she jumped up and kicked out at him in a really impressive martial arts move. 

Unfortunately for her, between Connor’s prep and her blasting him, Jude was really fast, really strong, and pretty close to invulnerable. He caught her leg by the ankle and swung her around and let go flinging her into Martin who had only just realized that Jude was there. He had about a second to recognize his partner before Tina crashed into him and they both went down in a tangle. 

Connor had managed to rejoin Jude and he reached down and flicked Martin on his chin, where Professor Sampson had been teaching him in fighting ordinary criminals. The flick was enough to knock Martin out. Tina was still going when Jude reached out and touched her and he drained her of her energy till she passed out. 

Standing up Jude looked to their clock, one minute 20 seconds down. The crowd was cheering again but Connor was not going to be fooled twice. He decided to fly up and had gotten about 20 meters (60 feet) when he was blasted by three different energy signatures. Jude saw the girls who had unleashed the attack standing in front of them and he slipped back into the shadows, and then slipping back out moments later directly underneath Connor. 

The three girls who were blasting Connor Jude didn’t recognize, but they were using some kind of multi-colored blast, a yellow half circle blast of energy, and a green electricity, respectively, and Connor was struggling to stay airborne. Jude signaled to Connor and he started ramping up his energy. Light, heat, and energy were all rolling off of Connor, but none of it was directed toward the girls, it was all going straight down into Jude who was absorbing it all.

It took a few seconds before the girls realized what Connor was dong but then Jude acted. He launched himself forward towards the girl with the green energy. He saw her eyes flicker towards him and he watched her try to change her aim but she was moving way too slow and Jude ran into her and grabbing her arms he spun her around and the green energy she had been blasting at Connor was now directed toward the girl with the multicolored blast who was now flying across the gym after being blasted with the green lightning. 

The third girl looks shocked and turned towards Jude to attack him, which was a mistake, as the moment she did Connor crashed down right in front of her. The pressure wave from his landing sends her flying up and crashing down to land in a heap on the floor. Connor looks over to see Jude spin. He steps, with the girl in his hands, disappears in shadow and a second later he is back alone.

Jude smiles and feels bad for the girl but he did drop her off in the infirmary so she should be fine. Then they look up and see four people running at them including Donnie, the guy with metal skin who Connor had punched on their first day. The attackers broke off into pairs and each pair launched themselves at Jude and Connor. The first guy hit Jude and he fell back reeling; he felt that! The other guy kicked out and knocked Jude down. They were both super strong!

The other two guys had both jumped on Connor but he shot up into the air taking both of them with him and then he started spinning. He was getting faster and faster when the first guy, Donnie, fell off and went flying through one of the windows out of the gym. Poor Donnie, it was the second time Connor sent him flying. The other guy fell off right after and went flying and crashed through the wall into the locker room.

Jude dealt with his two a lot less dramatically. He punched the first guy in the jaw. And since he was pretty charged up the guy went flying and Jude was pretty sure he did at least one complete flip. The other guy had jumped on top of Jude, trying to pin him down, when Jude brought a knee up and pushing managed to flip him over Jude’s head. But instead of trying to get up Jude melted into the shadows and came out about 20 feet (6 meters) above him and fell down, feet first, smashing into the guy pushing him into the floor. Jude bounced off and rolled just as the guy jumped up, he was pretty tough too. The guy flung himself towards Jude when he felt the energy at his back.

Smiling he swung his fist at the guy and when he connected Jude was certain the windows rattled. The boy went flying across the room to hit a wall and slide down unconscious. Jude looked over at Connor who had been blasting his back and giving him a super punch. They both looked up and saw they had less than 2 minutes to go when Connor was blasted across the room. Again!

Turning back Jude was shocked. Standing there was Professor Wiu and Melissa! Jude suddenly was nervous but he hoped that the professor would attack him but he didn’t, and Jude suddenly felt Melissa’s psychic attack hit him. Reeling back, Jude tried to focus, but his world was suddenly being turned upside down. He couldn’t tell where he was or what was happening so he tried to slip into the shadows but found he couldn’t!

It was so bright in the gym and Jude realized that Wiu was brightening things up to limit his shadow powers when he suddenly felt a surge of energy again. Connor!

Connor had shook off Wiu’s blast fairly quickly, they were strong but not enough to really hurt him, and Connor saw Jude down with Melissa staring at him, straining hard, while Wiu was lighting up the entire gym limiting Jude’s powers. Connor remembered his last lesson with Professor Wiu and sent a narrow blast of heat at Jude’s back to help him energize without Wiu or Melissa realizing what he was doing.

While he did that he tried to think of an attack. Wiu would blast him if he moved, he had REALLY good aim Connor knew, and Melissa could still mind blast him. Connor didn’t have Jude’s mental training to resist and he didn’t want to really hurt her as she wasn’t invulnerable or physically strong. Then Connor remembered that night with Jude on the beach and he smiled.

Focusing hard, Connor visualized the tiny balls of light and started flinging them towards Melissa. They arrived and all of a sudden started exploding like a combination of a fireworks show and strobe lights. The flashes of light and color, instead of being entertaining and fun, were disorienting and too much. He saw her step back and close her eyes as she tried to regain her equilibrium from the effects. Professor Wiu had turned towards Connor and had fired at him but Connor had shot up and the blast barely went under Connor’s feet. The professor had started to adjust his aim when more of Connor’s strobes went off in his face and he was blinded as well. He was also too focused on Connor so he didn’t realize that Jude, no longer fighting Melissa, had launched himself forward and tackled the professor, pinning him to the ground.

Melissa, shaking her head to clear her vision, looked over at Jude and managed one step when Connor slammed into the ground in front of her causing her to fall backwards.

He took one step when a siren went off signaling time was up along with the Coach’s whistle.

Everyone had frozen and looked at him as Coach ran over to them “Time’s up and you are still fighting!” he yelled.

Jude stood up and helped Professor Wiu stand while Connor did the same for Melissa.

“Nicely done boys, but you forgot your primary mission” Coach said to them sadly.

“You never know what you will face” Professor Wiu added “so you have to be ready for anything.”

Connor and Jude looked at each other and smiled and then started laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Melissa asked them.

“Are you sure we failed?” Jude asked sassily with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, I know you were watching us fight, but did you see the citizen?”

Coach frowned and looked over at the machine that had been lowering the manikin into the ‘death trap’ and he suddenly looked confused. “What the hell?”

Professor Wiu and Melissa both turned to look and Jude noticed that several people in the audience did as well and they realized that the ‘citizen’ had been replaced with a scarecrow?

“What the hell?” Coach growled and turned towards Jude and Connor who were laughing. “Explain” he roared.

“It’s simple. When the girls attacked me when I flew up, Jude stepped into the shadows” Connor said.

“So he could get beneath you” Coach said remembering that part of the battle.

“Eventually” Jude said with a smirk.

“What do you mean?” Professor Wiu asked confused.

“Connor and I figured that if I tried to rescue the citizen at the start of the fight by stepping into the shadows, then Coach would have a trap or plan B ready. So instead we did a frontal assault and then in the middle of the fighting, I used the Connor’s distraction to slip into the shadows, rescue the citizen and replace it with the scarecrow so our villains wouldn’t notice and, and then return to the fight.

“Why didn’t you say something?” Coach asked looking impressed.

“Well” Connor said scratching the back of his neck “we figured that if kept fighting, the rest of the villains would be revealed and we could ‘capture’ them. If they knew we had rescued the hostage, they would run away.” Connor blushed slightly as Peter and Angie were leading a cheer for them from the stands.

“Wait!” Melissa said with a laugh. “You saved the citizen in what…two minutes maybe? Then you kept fighting so they wouldn’t notice?” She was laughing really hard and people were starting to applaud as the villains and Coach realized that Jude and Connor had no only won, but had outsmarted the villains as well. 

Coach just looked at them and shook his head. “I knew I would have to make it tough on you two, but looks like I will have to make it even worse!” he said with an evil grin.

“Using teachers was a shock” Jude admitted. “And Melissa’s telepathic attack was really a smart move.”

“Yeah…I think I need some training in dealing with that kind of attack too” Connor agreed.

Coach officially declared them the winner, especially after seeing the video showing Jude rescuing the ‘citizen’ who he left in the infirmary, at the 1:39 mark. They finished up the day and Connor gave Jude a hug promising to see him soon as his mom was waiting to drive them to San Diego as soon as he got home. They would be there for dinner!

Jude kissed Connor before stepping on the transport pad and then into his garage. In a few hours Connor would be here and Jude couldn’t wait, especially to see his moms and Adam’s reactions!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is the family dinner with the Stevens and the Adams-Fosters. Will the secret actually be revealed? How will the parents react? Tune in next time for more adventures of Sun and Shadow!


	16. Not what we had planned

Connor ran off the transport platform and headed into the kitchen looking for his mom. He smiled when he saw she was already there and was talking on the phone. She smiled at him as he dashed up the stairs to grab his bags and head back down. By the time he arrived she had hung up and laughed at him as he ran past her towards the car.

“In a hurry?” she asked, amused by his behavior.

“I could fly us if you want” he looked at her with a smirk and she suddenly realized that he could carry her all that way.

“Don’t think so bucko” his mom teased him. “I am looking forward to two whole hours to talk with my baby with no interruptions, your nose buried in your cell phone texting Jude, or any other distractions” she said with a smirk. They finished loading the car and were pulling out less than 20 minutes after Connor got home. 

He was really anxious to be in San Diego, especially since it was all coming out today and he could have flown there in the time it took to get ready. But he had to admit that he was looking forward to talking with his mom in the car. As they headed out, he proceeded to tell her about his day and spent a lot of time talking about their turn playing Save the Citizen. He almost slipped a few times and said Jude’s name, but luckily he caught himself. He noticed his mom was looking a bit green in the face.

“Mom? You okay?” he asked concerned.

She swallowed loudly. “Sorry, it’s just that sounds really dangerous” she said slowly.

“Nah” Connor dismissed it. “I mean getting hit with that boulder was unexpected and the girls blasting me was irritating and Professor Wiu’s blasts were tough to get around, but mostly it was because it caught me off guard. I mean none of it really hurt or anything. Even the super strong guys who piled on me just knocked me down” he said with a chuckle.

“Really” his mom asked sounding anxious.

“Really mom” Connor assured her. “Professor Sampson said it would take something pretty significant to actually hurt me. I mean, sure I can be knocked down or knocked back, but it’s not easy to knock me out. Now the telepathic attack; that could affect me.” He looked at her and saw that she was worried. “But if they are close enough I can flash the area with heat and light and maybe break their attack or something that would help but I didn’t want to really hurt her. I asked about getting some training on dealing with mental attacks soon, so that should help me in case it happens.” He sounded so positive and enthusiastic that Victoria started to relax.

“So tell me more about your partner or teammate or whatever you call the guy you are paired up with” she said after a moment. “I mean you talked a little about this Shadow person’s abilities and how you are training together, but not anything about them. I mean I don’t even know if it’s a he or a she” she teased her son.

“Shadow is a he” Connor laughs. “He is really great; fun, smart, and cool. He has a great smile and is really funny” Connor describes happily. His mom is looking at him with a strange expression. “What?” he asks her.

“Nothing” she says quickly. After a pause she asks “Is he cute?”

“Yes” Connor responds instantly and then does a double take. “I mean, I guess so” he says and it feels kind of lame even to his own ears.

His mom chuckles at his attempt to backtrack. “So sounds like he is the whole package. Powers, looks, personality” she teases.

Connor rolls his eyes at his mom’s attempt at humor. “Mom! I have a boyfriend remember? We are on the way to his house” Connor says snarkily.

“Oh I know” his mom says with a smirk “but you never know.”

Connor suddenly looks very serious. “No mom…I do know. Jude is it for me” he says firmly. 

Victoria looks over at her son with a bit of shock in her expression. Connor sounded so…resolute…so certain. “Connor…you are only 14 and I know you have strong feelings for Jude, but you do know the odds of finding the person you will spend the rest of your life with at your age is almost zero.” She sees him look at her and rushes on “You know I love Jude, he is wonderful, I am not saying anything against him or how you feel about him right now, I promise you. I am just saying not to lock yourself into something yet, just take it day to day.”

She looks over at him but Connor isn’t responding, he is just staring out the window and she sighs. “Connor?” she prompts him.

He doesn’t say anything.

She sighs. “Connor, I know that first loves are powerful. This is the first time you have felt something like this before and it can be overwhelming, and I am not saying that those feelings aren’t real and important. Just that you are still young and at the age where you are changing almost daily. You and Jude might change in ways neither of you can predict which can pull you apart.”

Connor looks over at his mom and he knows that she means well. “I get that mom, but it also feels like something dad would say” he finally tells her.

He hears her sharp intake of breath as she looks at him. 

“You are already talking about me breaking up with Jude right after I tell you that he is it for me” Connor says, sadness clear in his voice. “It’s just a lot like dad saying I could change my mind about being gay.”

“I’m sorry Connor” his mom says clearly. “I didn’t mean it that way. I promise you. And you’re right, I shouldn’t be talking about you breaking up with Jude. But Connor I went through this too you know? My first boyfriend was a boy I was madly in love with and thought we would be together forever and it lasted three months before we broke up and moved on to other people.”

“I know that mom, but it’s different for me and Jude. Things like having powers like me don’t matter to me, I love Jude for Jude” he tells her.

She pauses and looks over at her son’s serious face. “Love?” she asks gently and smiles at the blush that spreads across his face and he quickly looks away. She chuckles a bit. “Have you told him?”

“Yes” Connor says quietly. “At Callie’s adoption. When he told me that he wanted me to move to LA to live with you so that I would have a safe place to be, a place to be accepted and not made to feel bad by dad, he told me it was because he loved me. I then told him that I loved him too” Connor told her.

“You never mentioned that when you told me he agreed with your moving” she said gently.

Connor was quiet for a minute. “I never told anyone that” he finally said. “Mom…I can’t imagine him not being in my life” he says, voice thick with emotion. “I know we’re young, but…I know this. Trust me.”

Connor’s mom is surprised at the determination she hears in his voice. 

“Besides” Connor smiles “there is no one at Sky High or anywhere else that is better than Jude!”

Connor’s mom decides to shift the conversation into safer territory and asks him about how his classes are going and the rest of drive down to Adam’s is a lot easier and Connor quickly regains his happy air.

* * *

 

“Jude, calm down” Stef says not for the first time. Since coming home, Jude has been driving everyone crazy with his anxiousness. He first was going crazy with cleaning the house. Lena had made him quit helping when she walked in on him lifting up the couch so Mariana could vacuum. The fact that he lifted it over her head made Lena scream. Then when Jesus refused to straighten up his room, Jude shifted everything Jesus owned into the shadows except his bed. That caused Jesus to freak out and Lena had to intervene again and make him bring it all back. Lena had confessed to Stef when she got home that she was tempted to side with Jude on that one except that she was fairly certain that Jude was about to toss Jesus in there as well. Mariana and Brandon had laughed at Jesus’s pleading for his skateboards back.

Then Jude started trying to “help” Lena with the meal preparations. Lena lasted about five minutes before she threw him out of her kitchen and pleaded for someone to keep him occupied. Callie was still not home so Mariana offered to keep him busy and dragged him outside to talk.

She got Jude to tell her about his classes and the epic Save the Citizen exercise, which she was really excited about and kept asking for more details. She also teased him about his partner at school and how he kept talking about him like he was the best thing ever.

“Mari, I have a boyfriend. I am not going to cheat on Connor” he told her.

“I know Judicorn” she said airily. “But just because you aren’t going to buy anything doesn’t mean you can’t window shop” she told him with a naughty look causing him to laugh out loud.

“So…is this guy good looking?” Mariana asks teasingly.

Jude looked at her for a minute before smiling “He’s pretty amazing. Great smile, beautiful eyes, and a body that should be illegal” Jude snickers.

Mariana’s eyes widen. “Best feature?” she queries. 

Jude looks thoughtful. “Smile is amazing…eyes too…his chest and abs are ridiculous for his age…but” he paused and looked at her before blushing furiously.

“JUDE!” Mariana shrieked. “WHAT?!” She yelled grabbing his arm.

Jude cover his face with hands and tried to turn away but his sister was on top of him trying to make him look at her. “Okay!” he finally yelled laughing. “First you have to swear not to tell anyone, I mean it!” he looks at her.

She crosses her heart and holds up her fingers solemnly.

“Well…we have gym together” he started.

“Yeah? And?” she asked.

“So…after gym we have to…you know” he looks at her and blushes again.

“What?” she scoots even closer to him.

“Shower” Jude whispers.

“EEEEEEEE” Mariana shrieks again. She is cackling as she hugs Jude and he tries to keep a straight face. “So what kind of shower? Stalls?” she teases.

“No…it’s more like a team shower so…” he looks away as she blushes furiously. 

“So you’ve seen him naked?” Mariana whisper yells.

Jude doesn’t answer but his reaction tells her the truth and causes her to laugh again. “Oh Jude!” she laughs loudly. “You better be careful!” she warns with a tease.

“Well, if it makes you feel better, Connor and I talked about it” he told her and saw her surprised reaction. “I mean I didn’t give him all the details but he knows about the showers and everything.”

“How’d he react?” Mariana asked suddenly nervous.

“Fine. He trusts me. Connor has had to deal with that with all the teams he was on and at his new school he has to shower in a communal shower as well so he understands” Jude said with a smirk.

Mariana frowned a bit. “So what’s his new school like?” she asks.

“I don’t know” Jude said trying to sound frustrated. “I mean he doesn’t talk much about it. I try to ask but he always manages to change the subject” Jude looks at her like he just had an idea. “Maybe you could help me get him to talk about it. You know, ask him questions and stuff” Jude tells her.

“Oh definitely” Mariana says looking devious. “We will get all the details, don’t you worry” she laughs as he gets up and goes to get them some drinks while Jude stays in the back yard.

Jude smiles after his sister. Perfect. Mariana will push Connor for details causing Adam to freak out while Connor pretends to be flustered. Connor and Jude had planned for the dinner and the idea of having Mariana go after Connor was perfect and Jude had to admit Connor was right that it would cause his dad to overreact. Jude admitted he wanted to really get Adam freaked out and pushed to the edge as payback, but he knew that they would have to deal with him afterwards so he agreed to tone it down when Connor reminded him of that.

Luckily Connor wasn’t concerned enough to let his dad off completely and he understood Jude wanting to tweak the noses of his family a bit, especially after all the teasing and comments about Jude’s “cute classmate” though Connor did offer the idea of them ‘breaking up’ with each other to date their school partner who would turn out to be each other…surprise! But ultimately Jude thought that was going too far. Jude walked back in the house looking forward to tonight’s dinner.

* * *

 

Connor walked up to the door of his dad’s house and before he reached it the door opened and Adam was standing there looking nervous. “Connor” he said looking a mix of happy and nervous.

“Hi dad” Connor said carefully.

“Adam” his mom said with a warm voice. She was determined to be 100% on Connor’s side tonight which meant that her behavior, no matter what, would be something that her son would be proud of.

“Victoria” Adam smiled at his ex-wife trying to match her tone. “Come on in” he said stepping back and waving them in. They walked in the house both feeling strange to be coming back to a place they had both called home which now wasn’t, not really.

“When do we need to head over?” Adam asked Connor as they walked into the family room.

“About an hour” Connor replied. “Knowing Jude he is probably going crazy cleaning and pestering Lena about the food so I don’t want to get there too early. He asked us arrive at 7pm so we are good” he finished.

“Great” Adam said obviously nervous about going. “So…how are your classes going? Anything exciting?” he asks with a smile.

Connor hesitates for a moment before his mom clears her throat. “Why don’t you tell your dad about class today, that was pretty exciting you teaming up with Shadow” she suggests.

Adam looks interested so Connor starts by explaining the week leading up to their turn, going over points in more detail and answering questions. He can tell his dad is excited and he asks a lot of questions. Connor relaxes as he talks about it and he gets more and more excited. Telling his dad about getting knocked down and blasted doesn’t cause his dad to react like his mom did. Adam was impressed how Connor shook it off and kept going. When he got to the end when the timer ran out he was disappointed.

“So you lost after all that?” Adam said disappointed but proud.

“Nope. We rescued the citizen at one minute, 39 seconds. The rest of the time we were just taking down villains” he laughed at his dad’s reaction. Connor went on to explain what Shadow had done which caused Adam to laugh.

“I really like this guy Connor” he says proudly. “Sounds like he is a good match for you, not just with your powers.”

“He is” Connor agrees with a secret smirk. “We are extremely well-matched. We’ve talked and plan to be partners full time after we graduate. I can see us together for a long, long time” he says firmly.

Adam looks concerned for a brief moment, similar to his mom’s reaction, but he suddenly smiles. “I think we need to head out if we want to be there by seven” Adam says standing up. Connor and his mom both look surprised by how time flew by but they all head out to the car for the drive over.

* * *

 

Jude opened the door and smiled as he saw Connor standing there with his parents. “Hey, come in please” he said politely and stood back. Connor walked in followed by his parents and Jude saw a confused look on Connor’s mom’s face. But he wasn’t sure what was wrong.

Jude closed the door as he heard a yell “CONNOR!” as Mariana came running around the corner and grabbing the blonde in a giant hug.

“Hi Mariana” Connor laughed and looked up and saw Stef and Callie coming behind her. “Hi Stef, Callie” Connor said with a smile.

Stef grabbed the boy in a big hug and smiled. “We missed you around here” Stef said too quiet for anyone else to hear. 

“Hey Connor” Callie said with a smile as she hugged him afterwards and Jude suddenly realized that Connor’s mom must have wondered why Jude had reacted the way he had. He forgot they ‘hadn’t seen each other in weeks’ instead of just a couple of hours ago. As Stef was greeting Connor’s parents, Jude grabbed Connor’s hand and pulled him into a hug and whispered “We forgot to hug since it’s been weeks since seeing each other.”

Connor snickered and grabbed his hand as they broke apart.

“Lena is finishing up, if you want to have a seat before we get started” Stef said happily. “Can I get you a glass of wine?” she asked Connor’s parents.

They both nodded and the group moved into the family room where Brandon and Jesus were watching a game on TV. They both nodded distractedly at Connor and Jude saw Adam looking at the game with interest asking about the score. Sitting in a chair so he could watch, Jude was fairly certain that Adam missed the glares his brothers shot his way.

Lena walked in with two glasses and greeted Connor’s parents with a smile and a brief hello. They all chatted about nothing and Stef and Lena kept switching out until Lena finally said they were ready and everyone went into the dining room to sit down. Jude and Connor were seated next to each other with Adam next to Connor at the end of the table. Mariana was across from Connor per Jude’s request because he was sure she would be able to control herself. Stef had the other end and they had put Victoria across from Lena so Connor’s parents didn’t have to sit next to each other.

After some minor conversation while they ate Mariana caught Jude’s eye and smiled. “So Connor…Jude tells us you are going to a cool new school in LA. Tell us about it? What it is like? What kind of things are you studying?”

Jude was watching Adam out of his eye and saw him twitch briefly before Connor smiled and gave the standard answer “It’s a sports magnet school called Peterson’s Academy that focuses on student athletes.”

Adam started to relax when Mariana suddenly looks focused. “I looked up their website and it looks really nice” she tells Connor who nods as do both his parents. “The strange thing is that I can’t find any students on Facebook that go there” she says suddenly suspicious. Jude didn’t know about this and his eyes widen.

“What?” Connor looks just as startled as this wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Adam looked much more nervous.

“Yes” Mariana said her eyes narrowed. “I couldn’t find any unofficial presence on social media through the students” she told him. Connor saw his parents both looked upset. “It’s almost like the website is a fake” she says smiling at Connor.

“Mariana” Stef says sounding concerned.

“I just think it’s strange that there is nothing there you know?” Mariana says and looks at Connor. “Why is that?”

Connor looks around and then remembers a discussion he had at lunch with their friends at Sky High. “We are told not to post online about school or our teams” Connor replies.

“Why?” Mariana pounces.

“Well…a lot of athletes get in trouble posting pics and stuff so they don’t want us doing that until we get social media training. We have an in-school system for texting and sharing pics, but it’s closed and not open to the public. Supposed to help us prepare if you go pro” Connor finished and Jude saw Connor relax.

Mariana looked confused as that sounded reasonable. She was sure she had found something strange when Jude had asked her to pressure Connor. Mariana had decided to do some digging and the total absence of any pics, posts, or anything from any student there stood out like a glaring sign to her. 

“That’s really smart” she said causing Adam and Victoria to calm down. 

“I wonder if your school will do anything like that” Jesus wonders aloud. 

“New school?” Adam asks confused. “Did you leave Anchor Beach Jude?”

Jude was surprised at the question and he looked over at his moms who also were caught off guard. “Yes” Jude says carefully. “I got admitted to a special magnet school this year” he tells Adam.

“So you won’t be at Anchor Beach if I come back?” Connor asked looking at his boyfriend sounding unhappy though he squeezed Jude’s hand under the table.

Jude looked back at his moms, pretending to be uncertain, then turned back to Connor. “No, but my new school is pretty cool. I mean, I have some great classes and it’s very personal, lots of one on one attention.”

“Cool. Can we go see it while I’m here?” Connor said with a smirk.

Stef and Lena suddenly looked panicked.

“Actually they are doing this bug spray thing this weekend” Jude says easily. “Besides, I thought you might want to go to the beach and maybe see some of your old friends too.” Jude tries not to laugh at how his moms and siblings calm down at that.

The conversation was going well when Stef’s cell phone went off. Now the rule was always no phones at the table, but Stef had a work exception. Looking quickly she sees it’s her captain so she apologizes and steps into the kitchen to take the call.

The rest of the family keeps talking and laughing, everyone is home so no one is really worried about things. Stef hangs up and they hear her heading upstairs instead of coming back to the table. Lena looks concerned and they all start wondering what is happening. Victoria and Adam aren’t sure exactly what’s going on because they haven’t lived with a police officer before and dealt with the late phone calls and fear for their mom and others.

Stef comes down shortly with her gun on her hip and putting on her jacket. Lena is standing to meet her as everyone looks over at her.

“It’s okay everyone” Stef says, the tension in her face clear. “I need to head out and will be back as soon as I can. Brandon?” she asks looking at her eldest. He looks up. “Would you go to Mike’s and bring AJ back to the house?”

Brandon looks confused but nods and moves to go grab his car keys when Jude suddenly gasps. 

Everyone looks at him in confusion, Stef shakes her head quickly and she starts to rush out.

“I can help mom” Jude says moving towards her. She stops and looks at him scared.

“Jude no” Stef looks around the room. She is worried about Mike, but this is too high risk.

“Mike’s been shot and is being held by a gang” Jude looks at Connor.

Everyone starts trying to talk, Adam and Victoria looking especially confused. 

“Jude you shouldn’t eavesdrop” Stef says looking scared, trying to explain his knowledge.

“I can get him out mom” Jude looks at her. “Those guys won’t stand a chance.”

“Jude” Stef is near breaking with worry over Mike’s life and Jude’s secret.

Knowing it’s time to stop pretending, Jude looks at Connor. “There is some kind of stand-off in a warehouse and Mike got shot and pinned down. Apparently he was part of a group of officers who were about to arrest a gang and now several of them are hurt and trapped while the gang is firing on the officers outside. They’ve called everyone in” Jude tells Connor, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Mariana and Callie both gasp and Lena looks back at Stef with fear in her eyes.

“Were there any Supers there?” Connor asks quickly causing Adam to startle. 

“No, just guys with guns” Jude says and realizes that he is smiling and not in a good way.

“Dude, we can go in, grab the cops, and take them down in like a minute. Let’s go!” Connor says smiling back.

Victoria whimpers and looks at Adam not knowing what to do.

“Jude, this is serious” Stef steps over to him trying to get him to stop.

“I need a boost Connor” Jude says looking at his boyfriend.

Connor nods and steps back and is suddenly glowing. Adam and Victoria both yell out “CONNOR!” at the same time but then Connor raises his hands and points at Jude, energy beams blasting into the brunette and everyone sees the blast of flowing into Jude. It’s like watching a river of light flow into, and be swallowed by, Jude. After a few moments Connor stops glowing and Jude opens his eyes, now completely black along with his hair.

“Connor’s a Super?” Mariana yells in shock.

“Connor is the other Level 5” Jude growls at his family. They look stunned.

“Jude is Shadow” Connor tells his parents at the same time. Both jaws drop to the floor.

“Boys” Lena tries to slow them down. 

“Mama” Jude’s voice is low, deep and raspy. “Right now I’m not only bullet proof, but I could throw a car across a football field. I will grab the cops right out from under those guys while Connor flies in a frontal assault and takes them out. Thirty seconds, tops” Jude estimates.

Everyone looks at the two boys uncertainly. “Jude…” Stef starts slowly.

“You need to change. Hide your identities so no one will recognize you” Adam says quickly. “Preferably something bulky so you look bigger than you are and with masks.”

Victoria, Stef, and Lena all look at him crazy. “Adam you can’t be suggesting…” Lena says shocked.

“It’s too dangerous” Callie starts to say.

“Connor is more than capable and from his descriptions of Jude, they can do this, but if we don’t act, this could turn into a stand-off and take hours. Hours in which Mike could bleed out” Adam looks at Stef for confirmation and she nods unhappily.

“Mom, go to the site. Connor and I will follow once we get changed. When Connor arrives, that’s the signal” Jude tells her.

Not waiting for a response, Jude grabs Connor’s hands they rush up to his room. Jude grabs some black pants, shoes, unfortunately his only black t-shirt is the one Connor got him for prom, and a black jacket from Jesus. Connor has grabbed a similar outfit from Jesus’s closet and they both quickly change. “Nice shirt" Connor teases Jude. "Okay, take us to my house” Connor says once they are dressed and Jude does.

Connor runs to a closet and comes back with two sets of ski goggles and black ski masks and hands one to Jude as he puts the other one on. “Now no one will recognize us!” he says with a smile.

Jude grabs ahold of Connor and focusing on Mike he moves through the shadows till he comes to the warehouse. He can see the police outside all watching the building before he moves inside and spots the six bad guys. He also sees Mike and two other police officers, all three wounded, in a corner and tied together.

Jude drops out of the shadows behind the police and Connor silently lifts up into the air to hover over them while Jude moves them outside. Jude reaches out and putting a hand over one of the officers to keep her quiet, he quickly snaps the chain on her cuffs. She is surprised but quickly recovers as he pulls her up and into the shadows and outside, dropping her off silently before slipping back to get the other two. It takes him about twenty seconds to rescue all three of the police, including Mike, before slipping back inside where none of the bad guys have figured it out yet.

Once the police officers are safe, Jude slips back in and signals to Connor who drops back down. Jude grabs him and shifts about a block away. Connor nods and launches into the air while Jude slips back inside the warehouse. 

The next few seconds are very bad for the guys in the warehouse. Connor comes flying in the front door, knocking it down, and crashes into two of them and sends them flying across the space hitting the wall and sliding down unconscious. Connor hears the police outside yelling and some gunfire, but not a lot.

Jude has slipped up behind one guy and grabs him, ripping his gun away and then throwing him at another guy knocking both of them down.

The other two manage to get their guns to work but bullets just bounce off Jude and Connor and Connor flies at one guy who tries to run before Connor tosses him across the place and out the door that Connor knocked down, landing outside by the cops. Jude knocks the last guy down before looking over at Connor when he hears shouts from the police. This time they are saying to hold their fire. Seems like they found the wounded officers.

Jude and Connor both step to the opening in the door where they are caught in a spotlight.

“Freeze, do not move” a voice yells out.

Connor grabs Jude’s hand and launches up, dragging Jude with him and moving faster than the police can track them. Dressed all in black, the police quickly lose sight of them as they land on a nearby roof for Jude to shift them back to the house.

Stepping out of the shadows in the living room they hear a yelp from everyone who was in there as they pull off their masks.

“Mission accomplished!” Connor says proudly.

“How’s Mike” Lena asks as she steps up to them. 

“He was shot in the arm, but he looked okay. They were putting him in an ambulance right before we left. Is Brandon back?” Jude replied.

“Not yet” Callie said nervously.

“Go change” Victoria urged them and they ran up the stairs to get in their normal clothes. Jude and Connor found that both of them had a number of tears and gouges from the bullets that had hit them but hadn’t been able to hurt them.

“Well, you wanted to surprise our families” Connor said pulling on his shirt with a laugh.

“Not exactly what I had planned” Jude snickered as they headed back downstairs.

* * *

 

Stef called about twenty minutes later with the official news causing Brandon and AJ, who had only just arrived, to head out for the hospital. Stef arrived home shortly after and at that point Jude and Connor had to explain everything to the families. And that? That took a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _I had written more than one version of this reveal trying to find one that worked. I was planning a huge fake out and maybe a fake fight or something, but I ended up going with this one because I though it was less mean on the boys' part and more heroic. Let me know what you think._


	17. No Capes!

Brandon and AJ had arrived before Jude and Connor had finished changing so no one had the chance to question the boys nor let Brandon know about the big reveal as AJ wasn’t to be told. They instead all pretended that it was a normal dinner though everyone had to act like they didn’t know that Mike had been rescued and was okay. When Stef called, Brandon and AJ left and Lena, Victoria, and Adam all looked at each other.

“Perhaps we should wait till Stef gets back for the big talk?” Lena suggested carefully.

“Are you kidding?” Marianna shrieked. Acting normal had nearly killed her. “Connor and Jude are Super Boyfriends…DETAILS!” she squealed and jumped next to the boys on the couch.

Connor smiled as he looked at Jude rolling his eyes. “Mari!” Jude whined. 

Jesus laughed at his brother. “You aren’t getting out of this this bro. You have been teasing us about this guy at school you have been hanging out with and making everyone think you might be cheating on Connor when it was him the whole time” Jesus laughed at Callie and Mariana’s disapproving looks. Both girls had worried that Jude was developing feelings for the mystery guy.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Callie asked looking at her brother.

“Well…” Jude started slowly “at first we were shocked to see each other and then…well it was kind of fun” he admitted.

“Jude” he flushed at the look Lena was giving him. 

“We also wanted to tell everyone together” Connor offered and turned at his father’s rather inelegant snort. He raised an eyebrow at his dad.

“You mean you both wanted to see our expressions when we found out” Adam clarified. “And the fact that Jude was a Level 5, whose powers basically meant that the two of you were destined to be partners didn’t hurt either” Adam looked over at the boys. “Not to mention rubbing my nose in it” he added.

Jude looked away but Lena and Callie could see the trace of a smirk on his face.

Connor sighed. “That might have been mentioned” Connor admitted. “You were so opposed to us being together dad, do you blame us?” he asked. Jude looked surprised at Connor’s tone.

“Connor” Victoria sounded disapproving.

Jude looked over in surprise at the small laughs coming from Adam. “Actually no Connor. And Jude I don’t blame you either. If I was you, I probably would have rubbed it in even more.”

Both boys look at each other in surprise. “I know I messed up Jude, son. But I have been trying to deal with my own issues and in at least one way, I don’t have to worry anymore” Adam told them. At their confused looks, he clarified “I was worried about people hurting you because you were gay and together. Now, that’s not really an issue anymore since you two are so amazing” Adam shook his head. “You know Connor, my dad would have been over the moon with you being a Super and a Level 5? That would have blown him away. He was only a 3.” Adam leaned back and chuckled. 

Jude was confused. Adam was acting very unusual but he wasn’t getting any whisper or hint that he was hiding something so he was okay with this? 

“Dad?” Connor voiced the same disbelief.

“I know it will take time for the two of you to believe me Connor, but I mean it. It doesn’t make logical sense but knowing that Jude is your partner as a Super, based on everything you have said about him? I feel better knowing you two are together” he tried to explain much to everyone’s surprise.

They spent the rest of the time talking about Jude and Connor and how the class reacted to them being a couple as well as their classes. Both Jude and Connor got to show off their powers to the families and Mariana loved Connor’s ‘disco effect’ as she called it much to Jude’s amusement. Then Stef arrived which led to a more detailed description of their time at Sky High. She also called BS on the boys not telling them and definitely looked unhappy about it but Jude did notice her peeking at Adam more than once so he figured she had guessed at part of their reason and wasn’t completely opposed to their desire to pay him back just a bit.

“So…” Stef finally took a deep breath “for this part, Callie, Mariana, Jesus…go to your rooms.” They all groaned but she was adamant and they left the boys alone with their parents.

“I think we all need to discuss the rules for you two” Stef said looking at Lena and Connor’s parents with a pointed look.

“MOM!” Jude protested with embarrassment.

Stef looked at her youngest. “Don't even try that Jude. Let’s summarize what's happened so far: there's lying about seeing Connor every day, sneaking out at night,” 

“Flying to another city” Victoria added with a look at Connor.

Stef smiled at Connor's mom. “Right, anything else we should know?” Stef looked at them knowingly.

Both of them blushed. “Mom!” Jude groaned in embarrassment. “We haven’t done anything.”

“Yet” Adam added in an undertone earning him several dirty looks. “You are teenage boys, I remember what that's like even if no one else here does.”

“We have two other boys Adam” Lena reminds him.

Adam snorts. “Yeah. You have two boys who are dating girls. We have two boys who dating each other…trust me…it’s not the same” he says looking at the two with a smirk.

Connor flushes remembering his dad walking in on him and Jude making out with their shirts off…which made him think of the locker room which caused his blush to deepen.

Jude caught Connor’s thought and his memory and he blushed as well. He looked at his parents and they are looking at them sympathetically but Jude knows that they will only get worse as his and Connor's relationship goes further. 

The rest of the weekend actually goes fairly well. Adam is really good when they spend the night there though the rule about open doors is kept, the boys laugh since they barely need sleep unlike their parents so they have a lot more alone time together when everyone else is asleep. Mariana enjoys updating them about all of the talk about their rescue on the news and on twitter.

Connor gets a lot of teasing from Jesus and Mariana, who has decided his nickname is ‘Sparkles’ much to Jude’s delight, but finding out that he will be training with Sentinel as well makes Jesus gush. They don’t sneak out but do spend more time in the living rooms alone and well, if some of their time involves making out, no one needs to know that.

On Sunday Connor flies back to LA after dark so he gets to stay for dinner with the family. He doesn’t have to leave early to pretend to ride the train or drive so Jude is happy about that but he knows that Connor does want to spend some time with his mom so he doesn’t suggest Connor stay and go to class with Jude.

* * *

 

**MONDAY AT SKY HIGH**

Jude stepped off the transport platform and Layla was standing there looking unhappy. “Good morning Jude” she said sounding serious.

“Morning Layla” Jude replied carefully.

“Please wait outside for me” she said looking back at the transport platform.

“Is everything okay?” he asked but she didn’t respond. Jude heard the whisper in his ear that she was here for him and Connor about this weekend and sighed. “You do know you can’t really hide stuff from me right?” he asks tiredly.

Layla looks surprised for a moment before she frowns. “I did forget that Jude” she admits. “We will go see Principal Morris as soon as Connor arrives” she tells him.

Jude nods and steps outside as he watches other students arrive. He nods to those calling his name and there are lot more after his and Connor’s performance on Friday.

After a few minutes he sees Connor and Layla step out of the center and they all walk together towards the main office where they sit down to wait for their meeting.

“So on a scale of one to ten how much trouble do you think we are in?” Jude asks looking over at the blonde.

“Not sure” Connor admits. “I mean I know we aren’t supposed to go in the field without clearance, but there are also provisions for emergencies and it’s not like they can prevent it. At most they could kick us out of school but remember Kid Neutron? He was a sidekick and fought villains and he was younger than us so you know he didn’t graduate Sky High” Connor reasoned.

“Jude, Connor” Layla called stepping out of the office. “Please come in.”

They followed her into the office and sat down across from Principal Morris. “Good morning boys” Principal Morris began. “We are here to discuss your use of your powers this weekend. Can you explain what happened?” she asked.

They looked at each other and Jude knew that Connor wanted him to take the lead. Jude began talking about their family dinner and how they planned to tell both families about each other and how Jude’s mom had gotten the call about Mike and then everything they did. Jude talked about Adam’s instructions before they left and how they approached the situation and each step. Principal Morris and Layla interrupted them several times to get clarification and to have them both expand on particular situations. After they finished, Principal Morris leaned back in her chair with her hands folded together.

“Well” she finally said. “It seems that you are learning very well in your classes. You made sure that your identities were mostly concealed and you prioritized the safe rescue of the police officers before engaging the criminals. Layla, any concerns?” she said looking at the other woman.

“Just their outfits” she sighed.

“I don’t understand” Connor asked them. “What do you mean mostly concealed our identities. We were fully covered, faces and hands, and what was wrong with our outfits? We wore all black.”

The two of them looked at each other before looking at the boys. “Haven’t you seen the news?” Layla asked them.

They shook their heads. After the rescue came the interrogation and then they crashed. Saturday and Sunday were spent with the family and at the hospital dealing with Mike. No one really watched much TV as far as either of them knew.

Principal Morris typed on the keyboard on her desk and the screen behind her lit up and they saw the outside of the warehouse where the cops were all looking at the building. Then they saw Connor fly in and punch through the door and a few moments later the guy Connor threw went flying out. Suddenly Connor stepped out though he was tough to see in his all black outfit. Jude smiled looking at him on the screen.

A moment later Jude stepped out and his breath hitched. His jacket had opened in the scuffle and his shirt was partially revealed though you couldn’t see what was written. At least you couldn’t until Connor grabbed him and they flew up. When Jude’s arm raised that damn shirt was clearly visible with it’s “I’m not gay but my boyfriend is” lettering frozen on the screen.

“Apparently there is quite a lot of online discussion about the new gay superheroes of San Diego” Principal Morris tells them and Jude can see she is struggling to contain the laughter at his reaction.

Connor suddenly snickers and Jude looks at him in betrayal. “Connor!” he groans. 

“Sorry Jude, but it’s kind of funny” he says chuckling.

Jude groans and flops back in his chair. He looks over at Layla who is also smirking and he realizes that he is completely outnumbered. “Wait a second” he says suddenly “why didn’t we hear about this online? My sister is all over Super news and this happened on Friday. She didn’t see anything about this all weekend in the reporting about it” he asked confused.

“Apparently you moved really fast so they didn’t spot the lettering until someone managed to look at the video from a specific camera to see the lettering. Most of the cameras had a bad angle so you couldn’t read it. So people were trying to figure it out without much luck until someone uploaded that video last night. All of the buzz has been in last eight or ten hours” she explained and Jude groaned again knowing that when he gets home his siblings are gonna give him hell over this.

“So what do we do?” Connor asked trying to sound serious though his smile was really annoying Jude.

“Not much to be honest” Layla told them. “Might want to think about not wearing that particular shirt again” she suggested. Jude eyed her with thoughts of matches and gasoline. “You can head to class and I think Professor Sampson will probably want to hear more about this weekend. However other than him, we would prefer you not discuss it with your classmates. We don’t want to encourage students to start acting before they are ready” she told them.

“So we are not in trouble?” Jude asked surprised.

“Heroes have to make tough decisions in difficult situations” Principal Morris says surprising them. “I doubt it will be the last time you are faced with having to use your powers before you graduate. I hope you realize you are not ready yet and that it is only the extraordinary circumstances that excuse your actions. We would never expect you to leave people to die or be hurt when you can help, but that is different from looking for trouble and I hope that you two both know the difference?” she looks at them seriously and they both nod in agreement.

Getting up they head to class with Professor Sampson who does in fact grill them about the entire operation. He runs them through alternatives and ways they could have improved though overall he is not too disappointed with their performance.

At the end of their class they head to the showers and this time there are others around so they behave though both of them do peek.

Lunchtime brings a lot of questions from their friends which they deflect with the explanation of their trouble from Layla so it isn’t too bad. Things are almost over when an unknown girls walks up to their table. She is older, probably a junior or senior.

“Jude and Connor?” she asks the table.

The boys both nod and smile at her. “Ms. Mode would like to see you for sixth period” she tells them and hands them both a note. She smiles and walks away.

“Who is Ms. Mode?” Connor asks. 

No one at their table knows so they just shrug and go back to eating.

* * *

 

Connor and Jude walk into the room on the note and see a short, dark haired woman with large glasses waiting for them. “Dahlings!” she cries “so good to meet the two of you!” she is loud and smiling as she looks at them.

“Such handsome young men” she looks them over and Jude has a feeling that he is being judged. “But your taste in clothes is absolutely horrible! Whatever possessed you to fight crime in a t-shirt and ski masks!” she jumped on the low table in front of them and was still shorter than either of them.

“We had to improvise” Jude told her in their defense.

“Really, you fight crime in a shirt from the….mall?” she sneers. “That is completely unacceptable. You must have costumes to speak to your powers. They must tell the world who you are as heroes while hiding your identity, they must shout to the world!” she yells pumping her hands and Jude shrinks back.

‘This woman is nuts’ he thinks and looks over at Connor who is smiling. 

“We haven’t graduated yet, I don’t think we are supposed to have costumes” Connor tells her.

She looks at Connor and focuses on him. Jumping down she walks around him, looking at him critically as if she was examining a horse she was going to buy. “You seem familiar” she mutters. “Your powers remind me of…” she pauses and looks at him again. “The Glow?” she mutters.

Connor reacts to his grandfather’s name. 

“But you also remind me of Blastarr” she says looking at him critically. 

“My grandfather” he manages to say.

“Of course darling, I’m never wrong. So which one was your grandfather?” she asks waving her hands as she moves back towards her chair.

“Uh both of them” Connor admits. 

The small woman’s eyes seem to glow in triumph at Connor’s admission. “A double legacy!” she crows. “But you are difficult” she says looking at Jude suddenly changing focus so fast Jude gets dizzy. “You I don’t know. You remind me a few heroes and villains, but none seem right.”

Jude doesn’t reply to that. He has no plans to share information about his mother after talking with Layla and Will that first day.

“I don’t think I have any famous Supers in my family” Jude said carefully.

She looked at him with a knowing look. “Of course darling. Families can be such tiring things. But no matter, don’t look back, look ahead. I will speak with your teachers but I need to know more about you!” rubs her hands together in anticipation.

The next hour has both boys struggling to keep up with the small dynamo in human form. She grills them on their powers, their likes, favorite movies and songs and so many different things about them that Jude has absolutely no idea how they will help her do anything, but she doesn’t let up till the end of the class period.

“I have enough to work with” she looks satisfied. “I will work on costumes for you!” she jumps up and heads for the door.

“Don’t we get to pick our own costumes” Connor asks confused. “I mean I think a cape would…”

“NO CAPES!” the small woman yells cutting Connor off. “Worry about your powers and leave the rest to me my darlings” she tells them and walks out of the room leaving both boys standing there feeling more wore out than one of Professor Simpsons workouts.

“Did we just agree to let her pick our costumes?” Connor looked at Jude confused.

“I have absolutely no idea” Jude admits shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Any readers/artists/sketchers want to try their hand designing the costumes? Shoot any ideas to me at my tumbler https://www.tumblr.com/blog/g8rguy or in comments below_


	18. Humble Pie

**TUESDAY AT SKY HIGH**

Jude stepped out of the transport center and smiled when he saw Connor standing there waiting for him. Walking over to his boyfriend he smiled and joined their hands together as they walked off their first class. After yesterday’s strange encounter Jude was hoping for something a bit more normal, well…as normal as things got at Sky High.

Today’s classes were mostly “book” type classes for them. Ethics, power use, working with civilians, protecting your identity, psychology of super villains, and similar topics. Most of the classes changed topics every week or so to keep things interesting for the students. Their first class was a seminar and they walked in and saw their classmates and waved at Alex and Angie.

“Mr. Stevens and Mr. Foster?” Professor Martin called out to them before they got too far into the class. “Please come here.”

Jude frowned as they walked to Professor Martin’s desk. Professor Martin’s class was one of Jude’s favorites. He was a lower power light bender which meant that he could create three dimensional holograms out of light with just a thought. It didn’t really have any combat application, but as a teacher, he could spin entire worlds out of the air and make whatever he was teaching come alive. So far they had gotten to see a recreation of the War for American Independence and several American Civil War battles and how Supers had influenced those conflicts and the how their contributions impacted the wars. This week they were supposed to be talking about WWI and while Jude wasn’t particularly fond of violence, he was enthralled when Professor Martin lectured with his light images.

“Boys, please report to your normal gym training room” he told them and handed them a piece of paper.

“But Professor Sampson doesn’t see us on Tuesdays” Connor asked confused.

“Can’t tell you son” he said with a smile. “Just delivering the message.” He turned back to the class and Jude saw the lights and colors starting to shape pictures from the war that he was going to be discussing.

Jude sighed as he and Connor headed over to the gym. He wondered what was going to happen. The note told them to change for training so they diverted to the locker room and finally walked into their usual training room.

“Well?” Connor grunted. “Guess Sampson got distracted?” he offered. Jude looked at him sharply and Connor just smiled. “We could make out” Connor suggested with a smirk.

“That can wait” a voice said with a laugh. Both of them turned around and they saw Sentinel standing there smiling at them.

“Will!” Jude said with a smile as Connor stammered in surprise. 

“In costume, call me Sentinel Jude” Will laughed at Jude’s sudden blush. “You need to get into the habit of thinking of you fellow heroes by how they are dressed: civilian or hero.”

Jude muttered an apology as Connor finally found his tongue. “What are you doing here?” he finally asked.

“Well, Professor Sampson asked us to help you with your training so we will be teaching you once a week” he said with a smile.

“We?” Jude asked confused.

“We!” a female voice said behind them and the boys turned around and saw her. Her costume was famous and both of them looked flabbergasted. Standing there was Spinster! She was a member of the Challengers, a Super Team headquartered in Chicago and she was seriously famous. Known for her super strength and her ability to spin like a top as super speeds, she was best known for kicking some serious butt! Spinster had joked about her name in an interview once after she had beaten a small army of henchmen when she told the press that it was a joke for her grandmother.

“You…you..” Connor was babbling. Unlike Jude, Connor had been a bit of a Supers geek before he moved on to soccer and baseball and he had Spinsters Hero card as well as her action figure. Even his dad liked her because she had beaten so many Supers who were technically stronger than her.

“Is he going to be okay?” She asked Will with a snicker.

“Give him a moment” Will laughed. “Okay boys, here’s the deal. We are here to work with you on your hand to hand combat skills. So we will be training you to fight, but handicapping you a bit.”

“What do you mean?” Jude asked excitedly.

“For the purpose of this training, here are the rules. Jude – no shadow traveling. Connor – no energy blasts, light powers, or heat. The point is to learn to use your strength, speed, agility, and invulnerability. Questions?”

Connor raised his hand and at Will’s laugh to go ahead he asked “Can I use those powers on Jude? And what about flight?”

“What do you mean?” Spinster asked curiously.

“Jude can get a power boost from Connor’s light powers” Will explains. “And today, no flying. We will add that back in, but not today.” He walks over to Spinster and they talk for a bit before he turns back. “Connor, you have one minute to use them on Jude, then once we start, you can’t.”

Connor nods and turning to Jude starts blasting him while Jude absorbs the light and heat. When Will calls time, Jude feels like he is going to burst. He feels stronger than ever before and he knows his speed and invulnerability are just as super-charged.

“Okay boys, now Spinster is a level 3, but don’t let that hold you back. She has more experience and training so it should balance things out. The goal of this training is to knock down the other team, Connor and Jude? You are one team, we are the other? Questions?”

Both boys shake their heads and smile at each other. “GO!” Will yells.

To be completely fair, they really did try. They had been listening to Professor Sampson and they remembered his call for strategic use of powers and they did great at Save the Citizen, but against two battle tested Supers? They were toast.

Spinster, while she was only a level 3, was able to use her strength in combination with an inhuman knowledge of hand to hand combat techniques. Jude never laid a single punch on her but she was tossing him around like he was a rag doll. About the fourth time he was tossed into the walls he looked over at Connor to see how the blonde was doing.

Not good. Though Connor and Sentinel were probably close to equal in strength levels, Will was kicking his butt and didn’t even look like he was having to try. Connor had been punched into the ceiling and walls several times when Jude called out to switch partners. Connor frowned but nodded and went after Spinster while Jude faced Will.

Jude didn’t expect to win this fight, but his idea was that maybe Connor could take out Spinster and then they could team up against Will. All Jude had to do was hold out. With that thought in mind, Jude went on defense and tried to keep out of Will’s reach. Will seemed to recognize Jude’s plan but he only smiled.

Jude heard a yelp and only got a moment to look up before Connor slammed into him and they both went crashing to the ground. Jude groaned. That hurt! 

“Give up?” Will asked happily. Jude shoved Connor over as they staggered to their feet. 

“Never” Connor growled.

Ten minutes later it was over and both boys were bruised, battered, and laid out on the floor of the gym. Jude tried to look over at the two instructors who both seemed perfectly fine and moaned. After giving them a chance to rest, Will and Spinster made them get up and they went over the fight and what happened. Both the boys were using brute force and against weaker opponents, it worked. But when facing someone prepared and trained, it wasn’t enough. The rest of their three hour class was spent going over different moves and techniques and trying to use them against the two heroes but in the entire time, neither boy managed a significant hit. Spinster said she was going to assign some training for them with teachers who would help teach them how to fight and each week she and Will would come back and test them with a fight.

Finally let go, the boys thanked their teachers and staggered to the locker room and the showers. Despite being alone, there was no fun times as both boys were too sore and worn out. Stepping out of the shower, Jude saw that he was covered with bruises and blotches. Connor was of course flawless. He muttered about that and Connor turned and laughed.

“I may not show bruises babe” he said tiredly “but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I have been run over by a truck. Spinster kicked my ass like it was nothing” he grunted.

* * *

 

They both commiserated as they walked to join their friends for lunch and Jude seriously thought that maybe it would have been nicer to sit in Professor Martin’s class instead of getting beat up by two super heroes all morning. He felt Connor reach for his hand and he looked over at the other boy and smiled. 

“What the hell happened to you Jude?” Jacob said looking at him in shock. The rest of their group all turned to look at him and were equally surprised.

“We have a new weekly class in hand to hand combat and spent the last few hours getting our butts kicked” Connor said, his voice still rough with fatigue.

“They took on both of you and you lost?” Peter said surprised. “After Friday I figured you two were pretty kick butt.”

“Not against Spinster and Sentinel” Jude grumbled. This set off their table as everyone demanded details of their training. Everyone knew about the two famous Supers and while at first it seemed that they might have been jealous for Jude and Connor getting attention from the two, they quickly realized it wasn’t all that much fun.

“So they basically spent several hours proving that they are better than you?” Alex said looking annoyed.

“No” Connor said with a sigh. “They were showing us that we were using brute force, not skill or using our powers smartly. Spinster is a level three and she is not as strong as I am or Jude when I charge him, but she pretty much wiped the floor with us. I don’t think we could have beat her even if Sentinel wasn’t there.”

“Yeah, but you were handicapped though” Angie argued. “You couldn’t use your other powers.”

“That was the point. We were supposed to fight like that. There are situations when you are limited in how you can fight and they were trying to teach us that. As we get better, they will allow us to use our other powers, but they don’t want us to rely on them to the point that we don’t know what we are doing.”

“It’s like my strength” Connor adds. “There are other Supers who are strong, someone might be stronger than me, so I need to use my strength correctly to maximize my chances.”

“Still seems like it was unfair” Wayne said. “I mean you could have blasted with energy and taken out Spinster.”

“But not Sentinel” Jude reminded him. “Sentinel is super strong and invulnerable and flies super fast. We can’t beat him with brute force, we need strategy if we faced someone like him.”

The rest of lunch is basically a retelling of their morning and Jude and Connor hear about Professor Martin’s class and his holograms which Jude ends up resenting having to miss, they sound amazing. After lunch they head out to the rest of the day’s classes that are pretty normal.

* * *

“Want to come over to my house?” Connor asks Jude as they walk out of their last class.

“What?” Jude asks surprised.

“Well, I can fly you back after it gets dark if you want…or you could shadow walk to see how long it would take. My mom won’t be home for a few hours” Connor says with a smirk.

Jude purses his lips but nods in agreement and they walk to the station. Bill sends them off to Connor’s house and they walk in to the empty house. “I better call moms and let them know” he tells the blonde as they walk up to Connor’s room.

Dialing Lena’s phone, it rings twice before she picks up. “Hey Jude” she says happily.

“Hi mama. I went over to Connor’s house after school. He wants me to stay for dinner and then I can come home. Is that alright?” he asks.

Lena is silent for a moment before she responds. “Since you are already in LA, kind of makes it tough to say no. I notice you didn’t call before you went over there” she said knowingly.

“Uh…well it all happened kind of fast” Jude says lamely.

Lena’s silence is telling and Jude realizes that he isn’t getting away with anything. “Fine Jude, but I expect you both to behave” she tells him and he agrees.

Connor looked over at Jude as he hung up. “You know you are going to get it when you get home” he laughed. Jude looked and him and scowled. “Not to mention that rather impressive black eye” Connor snickered when Jude’s eyes widened and he dashed for the bathroom.

“Oh god!” he cried as Connor followed him in. Jude turned and the bruising on his face was really rather impressive. Not that Connor didn’t feel as crappy as Jude looked, he just didn’t look like it. “My moms are going to freak. And Callie” he groaned, “she is so going to lose it” he collapsed on the side of the tub.

Connor knelt in front of him and took his hands. “Jude…babe…it’s going to be okay” he tries to reassure him. “You fought two major Supers for hours and yeah you got a black eye and bruises, but anyone else would be in traction in seconds. You are tough and those wounds are badges of honor” he smiles and leans forward to press a kiss against Jude’s lips.

Jude kisses back and then sighs. “I’m probably going to be grounded you know” he mutters.

“Well then, I guess we should take advantage of the time we have” Connor says as he wiggles his eyebrows and Jude laughs. They walk back to Connor’s room hand in hand and find themselves on the bed kissing. Connor’s mom will be home soon, so they make sure that they won’t get in trouble, but they enjoy making out until they hear Victoria come home. 

Jumping up they head downstairs where she is pleasantly surprised to hear Jude is there but then she freaks out when she sees him. Connor’s mom makes quite a fuss over the bruises and looks at Connor worriedly but he assures her that while he feels like Jude, no bruises though.

* * *

They have a simple dinner and then Jude needs to head home. Connor offers to carry him, but Jude wants to try shadow walking. Jude gives him a quick kiss and then steps into the shadows. Jude can feel his family so he moves towards them and finds it only takes him about ten minutes to make the trip to San Diego and he laughs that he can move almost as fast as Connor.

Jude sees his house and family. Brandon is in his room but everyone else is downstairs so he steps out of the shadows in his own room. “I’m home!” he yells out and jumps on his bed with the lights out and hopes that no one will…

“Jude?” he hears Lena at his door as the light switches on. Dang it. 

“Hi mama” he says carefully from the bed. Jude has his back to the door so she can’t see him and hopes that he can avoid the inevitable reaction till tomorrow.

"How did you get back home" she asked slowly.

"I shadow walked" he replied pushing further in to his pillow.

“ You traveled all the way from LA? And you are in bed already? It’s not even eight o’clock Jude” she says sounding doubtful.

“Maybe he is grounding himself” Jude hears Stef joke and he sighs knowing this isn’t going to work.

He sits up and slowly turns around and watches their faces for the reaction when they finally get a look at his own face. “JUDE!” Lena and Stef yell as they are moving towards him and touching his face. He sees Mariana and Callie behind his moms in the hallway.

“Jude what happened to you? Are you okay? Who did this to you?” his moms were talking over each other and making quite a fuss and sure enough the rest of his siblings came running. Jesus went “Whoa!” Mariana had gasped but Callie, Callie went white.

“Jude” she whispered and he could see her eyes tearing up.

“It’s not that bad, honest” he told them and saw the disbelief and anger on his moms’ faces. “Connor and I had a new class today on hand to hand combat and our instructors are teaching us how to fight. They started with us trying to take them down.”

“What happened?” Brandon asked sounded concerned.

“We lost” Jude said flatly. “Actually,” he paused and took a breath “we had our butts kicked all over the gym for three hours” he admitted.

“Your teachers beat you up for three hours?” Stef yelled.

“No mom” Jude tried to reassure her. “It was training us to not just bull through things, but to learn how to fight. How to use our strength and skill to the max. Up to now we just kind of barreled through things. They were showing us we couldn’t keep doing that, but that we had to learn how to use our strength. Connor was tossed around as much as I was and I was pretty charged up so I was really tough, but I just have a lot of bruises to show is all” Jude tries to downplay it.

“Jude…this doesn’t sound right” Lena worried.

“This isn’t safe!” Callie finally found her voice.

“Callie, stop. Mama” Jude turned from his sister to look at the distraught Lena. “I was with two incredible Supers who have agreed to work with us every week for the foreseeable future. Connor and I needed to learn that being strong isn’t enough sometimes. I have to admit that we were both getting…well cocky” he looks a bit ashamed when he said that. “I mean when everyone treats you like a rock star and you kick butt every time, you think you are all that. But after today, we both realize we have a long way to go before we are really ready despite what happened this weekend. This was a good thing, honestly” he assures them.

Lena and Stef talked for a bit longer about the class and Jude finally managed to calm them down. Stef was also pretty impressed that he was working with Spinster as she was a very well-known Super. Jesus, Mariana, and Brandon left for where he didn’t know and Callie was hovering, just listening to them talk. Finally moms decided to go back downstairs and it was just Jude and Callie when Mariana came back in.

“Jude” Callie’s tone told Jude she was worried and nervous.

“Callie, I mean it, I'm fine. It’s okay. Yeah it hurt a bit, but I got checked out by the infirmary and no lasting damage. And I didn’t do too bad either. If we had been able to use all our powers it might have been different.” Jude had explained the limitations and the reasons and Stef seemed to understand that better than the others.

"So how long did it take you to make it here from LA?" Mariana asked him remembering that he had said he came on his own.

Jude groaned, trust Mariana to not miss details of things. He needed to remember that in the future. "About 10 minutes" Jude replied.

“Well that's convenient" she said with a smirk. She then looked at him with a calculated stare. "Do you need someone to kiss your boo-boos to make them better?” Mariana teased him as she sat down on the bed beside him. “Or did Connor take care of that at his house?” she winked at him and laughed when he blushed red and Callie looked away trying not to laugh.

She turned back to Jude and narrowed her eyes “So I bet Connor’s mom wasn’t home when you got there either?” Callie mused. “Probably another reason why they went there instead of here” she said finally feeling better about the whole thing.

“Callie!” Jude’s blush increased and he gently shoved her. “We just hung out, with the door open I might add” he said in their defense.

“Doesn’t really count if you’re the only ones home Jude” Callie said knowingly. “Even if you have powers, you are still young you know?”

Jude sighed and rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Mariana suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked at Jude and started giggling. “What’s so funny?” Callie asked her suspiciously.

“Oh just remembering something Judicorn said about school” Mariana said in a sing song voice, the one she used when she had something on you.

“What?” Jude asked nervously.

“Oh…just a discussion about gym…and afterwards” she teased and Jude’s face went scarlet and Callie looked shocked while Mariana laughed with delight.

“What about gym?” Callie asked as Jude hid his face in his hands.

“Judicorn mentioned that he had to shower after gym” Mariana sang and Callie looked confused still. She watched Jude’s face as his blush intensified. “He teased me about showering with his partner, remember that Judicorn?” she smirked.

Callie paused as she tried to understand why that would make…wait…Jude’s partner was Connor. So he showered with…”JUDE!” Callie screamed in shock. Mariana squealed with glee and Jude, Jude ducked into the shadows and landed on the sofa on the floor below causing Jesus to scream in surprise before everyone came running in and all hell broke loose.


	19. Red Means Danger

The next few weeks pass relatively easy for Jude. After dealing with his brothers and sisters giving him nearly unending grief about the whole shower thing, which luckily they did not share with moms after Jude threatened them with similar disclosures, he finally got them to knock it off when Brandon and Jesus threatened to “teach Connor a lesson” causing Jude to laugh at them rather pointedly. They were annoyed till they remembered that even attempting that would probably put the both of them in traction. The both muttered about the unfairness of Jude dating a Super at that point.

Training with Sentinel and Spinster was going well, and at their last bout, both Jude and Connor had managed to actually land a few hits on their instructors. Jude was still spending Tuesday’s bruised and battered, but they also discovered that he healed pretty quickly, about three times faster than normal, so he bounced back fairly well. 

“Jude!” Connor said walking over to the brunette as Jude exited the transport station. Jude smiled at his boyfriend who looked like he was bouncing with excitement.

“Morning!” Jude said happily grabbing Connor’s hand as Connor planted a quick kiss on his cheek. “What’s go you all worked up?” he asked with a chuckle.

“I have a new class starting this morning. Professor Sampson is taking a break for about six weeks, so we will have some new classes and I just found out that I will be taking aerial combat!” Connor said excitedly.

Jude smiled at his boyfriend’s enthusiasm and walked along to his locker where he saw a note waiting for him. Opening it he saw that he had a new class as well as Connor called “Psychic Warfare and Defense”. “Huh?” Jude frowned at the class and showed it to Connor.

“Hey!” Connor frowned. “I want to do that too!” he complained.

Jude just smiled and they headed out to their first class together.

* * *

 

Connor walked out of his first aerial combat class with Professor Maddens. Connor was a little disappointed that they would spend the first two weeks in the classroom learning strategies, techniques, and studying past aerial battles before they got to actually start flying lessons. There were nine people in his class and he was definitely in the top three in terms of speed. Peter was in this class and Connor was really happy about it and Peter loved that he was rated as faster than Connor. Peter had already hit Mach 5 speeds in his testing and he had teased Connor about being a slowpoke.

“Seriously Connor” Peter continued. “I don’t want to leave you behind, but you know every second counts” he says with a smirk.

Connor just smiles and grunts. He looks over and sees Jude sitting at a table with an attractive red headed girl that Connor doesn’t recognize. “Who’s that?” Peter asks seeing Connor looking over at the two talking and laughing. Connor just shrugs not recognizing the girl.

Connor is running late so he has to get to his next class so he doesn’t worry about it at that moment and he waves goodbye to Peter who walks to his own class. He sits with Alex and they chat until Jude walks in and sits down next to Connor. “Hey” Jude says with a smile.

“Hey babe” Connor smiles at him and turns to ask him about the girl when their instructor calls the class together to start. By the time it’s over Connor has forgotten about it. 

Over the next two days he sees the red head again but never with Jude but he notices that she seems to avoid him. He is sitting at lunch when he caught her staring at him with an angry look and when he catches her eye, she quickly looks away and leaves. Connor didn’t like the idea that someone didn’t like him, especially when he didn’t know why, and at that point Jude walks over to the table with Jacob. 

“Hey” Jude smiles and moves to give Connor a kiss on the cheek but notices that Connor isn’t really paying attention causing Jude to frown. “What’s wrong?” Jude asks.

“Who’s the redhead you were talking with the other day? She keeps glaring at me” Connor asked him curiously.

Jude looked at Connor with a confused expression. “What red head?”

“That girl from a few days ago. You were talking at the table in the courtyard. I was coming out of Aerial Combat and you two were talking and laughing” Connor clarified.

Jude looked thoroughly confused. “Connor, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about” Jude said finally. “I don’t think I even know any red heads” he says after a moment.

Connor frowns but then Peter starts bragging about being ranked as the fastest flier in their class which everyone has to jump in and tease Connor about.

* * *

 

The next day Jude walks out of his Pscyhic warfare class and he is exhausted. Melissa is the TA and she has been working with Jude on creating shield and he spent the last hour trying to fend off her attacks so he ran to the nurse to get something for his headache and now he is running late. Looking across the courtyard he sees Connor sitting in one of the windows and Jude wonders why he isn’t in class.

At that point Jude sees an attractive red headed girl step into view and he pauses as he watches the girl put her hand on Connor’s chest while he just laughs. Jude frowns at the sight but then they walk away and Jude kicks himself for thinking that something was going on. Connor is gay. He was probably just being nice. Didn’t he say something about a red head glaring at him, he must have been trying to clear the air. Jude finally got to class and smiled at Alex and Angie as he sat down.

* * *

 

It was right before lunch a few days later that Jude turned a corner and saw the red head again. This time she was alone and he was walking by her when she turned around suddenly. “OH!” she gasped, dropping her books. “I’m so sorry! I’m just really clumsy, just ignore me” she was babbling and Jude tried not to laugh as he picked up and handed her the book she dropped. “Thank you. I’m Ashleigh” she is rambling.

“Hi Ashleigh” Jude smiles. “I’m Jude.”

“I know!” she smiles and then looks embarrassed. “I mean everyone knows who you are! I’m sorry, I mean I have seen you around and you are kind of famous” she stuttered. Jude tried to be sympathetic as he wasn’t used to being getting weird around him but his friends had constantly reminded him that everyone at Sky High knew who he and Connor were and more than a few were intimidated by the duo.

“Nice to meet you. What year are you?” Jude asks politely. He knew that people liked to talk about their powers but he didn’t want to intrude.

“Oh, I’m a sophomore” she tells him airily. Looking at her phone she suddenly looks nervous “I’m late!” she says looking concerned and she takes off. Jude watches after her for a second when she turns around and waves at him “Nice meeting you!” she yells and then is around the corner.

Jude laughs softly to himself and heads off to the gym to get changed.

* * *

 

Connor rolls his shoulder to loosen up a bit for his solo fight with Sentinel. After their training, Will wanted to work with Connor one on one today. Will was wearing gym clothes, not his uniform, and had set the rules as anything goes, all powers. Jude and Spinster were watching from the observation booth.

“Why did he want to do this now?” Jude asked Spinster. He still didn’t know her real name, she was pretty serious about the secret identity thing. 

“While you two may be partners, we don’t want you to get too used to having each other there, you both need to learn to fight solo” she explains.

“So you and me?” Jude asks nervously.

“Not for this” Spinster says with a smile. “Will will train with you as well.” She smirks as she sees Jude’s shocked reaction.

“I have to fight Sentinel one on one?” Jude is proud that his voice didn’t squeak even if it didn’t sound as confident as he would have preferred.

“Yep” she smiles again. Jude swallows nervously. He is nowhere near Will’s strength and without a super charge, it will be a short fight. He starts trying to think of a strategy.

* * *

 

“Ready?” Will asks Connor with a smile.

Connor nods trying to focus. Will yells go and Connor flashes as bright as he can and, instead of flying up, he slides like he is running the bases, dropping along the floor. Will had launched himself upwards and Jude can see he had closed his eyes to try and avoid Connor’s attack. But Connor had done the unexpected and stayed on the ground and then he rolled and, bracing himself, he built up a surge and blasted Will full on with an energy blast. Will was caught off guard and went flying and Jude cheered as Connor blasted off crashing into Will and sending them both into the wall.

“So close” Spinster said sadly. 

Jude frowned at her and turned back to the fight and realized what she meant. By moving to close range with Will, Connor allowed Will to use his strength and skill to his advantage. He grabbed Connor and started pummeling the glowing super. Will had gotten about three hits in when Connor flashed again and this time Will was caught off guard and had been looking right at Connor. Now he was now staggering backwards. Jude heard Spinster whistle appreciatively when Connor grabbed Will and knocked him across the room.

“YES!” Jude cheered and he saw Spinster looking at Will with a shake of her head.

Connor went up and aimed another blast at Will, blasting him backwards. Jude froze as he watched Will stagger and then fall down. Connor suddenly looked concerned and dropped down to check on the other super when Jude heard Spinster chuckle and he looked at her in surprise. Why was she laughing at Will getting hurt?

The next thing Jude felt was the shock wave that cracked the glass on their booth, throwing them both backwards. Spinster was braced for it but Jude fell over. Jumping up he looked at the gym and saw the Connor shaped hole in the wall as Will was standing there looking happy.

“What happened?” Jude demanded.

“Connor fell for the 'playing possum' trick” she answered.

Jude groaned realizing that Will’s invulnerability meant that he hadn't been really hurt by Connor's blast, he just pretended. But Connor had forgotten that and had rushed to check on the older super and when he got there, Will had sucker punched him. “That’s not really fair” he said weakly and wilted under the glare that Spinster gave him.

“Think the bad guys will play fair?” she asks archly and he gave up. He knew it was a stupid complaint.

“Where is Connor?” Jude asked looked at the hole.

Will looked up at them. “He got knocked off Sky High. I will go check” Will flew after Connor and Spinster and Jude went down to the gym. By the time they arrived, Will and Connor had both returned and Connor was looking rough. 

Will and Spinster went over the fight with them and when Will looked at Jude and told him that he would be fighting next week, Jude knew that he would have to come up with something significant to last even five minutes.

* * *

 

Connor walked down the hallway trying to remember where he was supposed to meet Jacob and Peter. The guys had wanted Connor to help them with their class project with his fire powers when he looked over and saw Jude talking to that red head again. Frowning he stopped and watched not liking how the girl was hanging onto his boyfriend who was smiling and laughing at her.

Connor shook his head at himself. Why was he worrying about Jude Connor asked himself with a smile when he suddenly froze and went pale. Jude had leaned forward and he was kissing her!!


	20. You don't mess with Jude

Connor was staring in shock at the sight before him. Jude, his Jude, was kissing someone else and it was a girl!! Connor’s hands clenched into fists and he could feel the heat rolling off of him and he only barely noticed the lockers near him start to melt. But it was enough to help him regain his control over his powers so that he was no longer sending out heat and he moved towards the two of them, who were still kissing.

As he got near them he noticed that the red head was the one he had seen earlier with Jude, the one who had been glaring at him. He was about ten feet away when the two of them broke apart and she looked up and saw him and smirked. SHE SMIRKED!

“JUDE” Connor yelled.

Jude turned around and Connor froze at the look of disdain and absolute annoyance on his boyfriend’s face. “Yeah” he said sounding bored, “what?””

Connor looked at the face he knew so well with a look he had never before seen on it. “What the hell is going on?” he asked proud that he had managed to get his voice under control.

“Wow” Jude snickered and looked at the red head. “I mean I always knew you weren’t the smartest guy in school, but I didn’t figure you were that dumb” Jude was looking at him like he was bored with Connor. “But since you don’t seem to understand, let me explain it to you. I’m kissing a girl. You know, who we are supposed to kiss” he sneered.

Connor felt his heart freeze at the malice in Jude’s voice. “But…we…you..I” Connor stammered.

“Awww” Jude frowned and looked at him like he was an idiot. “Can’t use your big words? Maybe if you weren’t such a dumb jock you could use two syllables” Jude laughed and the red head who was hanging all over him was laughing as well.

“You’re my boyfriend” Connor whispered.

“Oh please” Jude rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the red head’s waist. “I was bored and you were desperate for attention. You were fun for a while, but it’s not like it was real or anything. How stupid can you be?” 

Connor stood there in shock as he watched Jude walk off with the girl and saw his hand slide down her back to grab her ass and he felt something snap inside him. He held on for a moment but once they entered the school he let out a scream and blasted off like a rocket, leaving Sky High behind.

* * *

 

Jacob walked into class and saw Jude talking with Alex. “Hey guys” he said smiling. “Have you seen Connor?” 

Jude looked at him with a confused look. “Not since history class” he answered. “Why?”

“He was supposed to meet with me and Peter after class. He was going to help us with a project but he never showed” Jacob told them.

“That’s strange” Jude mumbled and remembered his exercise with Mariana and he closed his eyes and tried to focus on Connor. He felt a tug in a northern direction, but it was really far away. “He’s not in Sky High” he said opening his eyes. “Why would he leave school?” he asked Jacob.

Jude wanted to figure this out but class was getting ready to start and Jacob had to leave. Jude would look for him after class.

* * *

 

Jude stepped off the transport platform and he wasn’t happy. He hadn’t seen Connor for the rest of the day and several teachers had asked about him. Jude had tried texting Connor but he didn’t answer even when Jude called. 

“Jude” Mariana called out happily. “You are never going to believe this” she said excitedly. She went on to tell him all about the drama going on with Brandon’s musical and how she and Mat were struggling to keep it professional and how Brandon didn’t want to put a ‘no dating’ rule in place despite her suggestions.

Jude tried to pay attention but he wasn’t having able to focus worrying about his boyfriend. He kept trying him all night but he didn’t get any response and he was starting to worry. He knew that Connor was invulnerable physically, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be hurt.

He wanted to shadow walk to LA but his moms had already told him no on that without permission and while he was anxious, he also knew that his powers were causing them some serious stress and that if kept ignoring rules it would create significant problems. He would just have to talk to Connor tomorrow.

* * *

 

The next day was a nightmare. First of all Connor didn’t show up for school which was a huge red flag. Second, Will decided to practice one on one with Jude as a surprise and without Connor around, it was a disaster. Will pretty much ran Jude ragged. The only benefit was that when Jude shifted to ‘evade and avoid’ as his strategy, Will’s strength, speed, and power were pretty useless. During that training Jude discovered that he was able to avoid capture or even letting Will lay a hand on him. He finally shifted into the shadows and stood next to the Super while he tried to find him without success. Will called it a draw, but they discussed what Jude would do if he was trying to stop someone from harming others because the hiding wouldn’t work.

Jude walked into lunch to see his table full of people whispering. “Hey guys” he said tiredly as he sat down. He saw the concerned looks directed towards him. “What?”

“Have you heard from Connor?” Alex asked him carefully.

“No” Jude huffed in frustration. “I have been calling and texting him since yesterday but without any result. If I don’t get some kind of answer I am going to his house after school” he tells them.

Jacob looked up and saw that red haired girl Ashleigh walking by looking at Jude with the strangest expression. His hackles went up unconsciously and he didn’t understand why. She looked like half the girls at this school who were all sighing dreamily over Jude and Connor. He had even heard several of the girls betting that they could get them to break up and date girls. He shook his head, the girls who actually thought that obviously hadn’t seen the two of them together.

* * *

 

Jude walked out of his Psychic Warfare class mentally exhausted. He was rubbing his eyes from the pressure of fending off Melissa’s latest lesson. He was frustrated because he was totally on defense in this class as he had absolutely no offensive telepathic powers. Sighing he looked up and saw Connor and his heart raced. He was standing beside a table talking to that Ashleigh girl he saw this morning. Moving quickly he raced for the other boy.

“Connor!” he called out and saw the blonde turn to look over at him with a sneer on his face that turned into a look of disgust when he saw Jude causing the other boy to slow down. “Connor?” he said much quieter.

“God Jude, can’t you take a hint?” Connor rolled his eyes. He looked back over at Ashleigh and snorted. “Get the picture, I’m done with you Mr. Creepy. I don’t know what I ever saw in you but look at you with your spooky shadow powers. I mean seriously look at you, do you really think you are good enough for me?” He laughed at Jude and Jude saw the red head laughing with him.

“You are a dorky, useless, kid whose own parents didn’t want him” Connor snorted. “Why would you ever think I would want you?”

“Why are you doing this” Jude whispered in disbelief.

“Maybe because you are too wrapped up in yourself and your so-called ‘family’ to get this, you aren’t worth my time” Connor’s face was twisted with disgust.

Jude looked at the two of them and heard it. The whisper in his ear that caused his heart to freeze and his blood to turn to ice. He heard it. What they were really thinking. What they were doing to him. More importantly, he heard the true thoughts of the boy in front of him and he clamped down on his emotions. “Fuck you” he snarled and turned around and left, their laughter ringing in his ears.

* * *

 

Jude strode toward the transport platform, determination written clear on his face. He knew that Connor didn’t want to talk to him but he had other tools at his disposal and he nodded at Bill at the controls. The moment he stepped off the pad in his house he stepped into the shadows and a few steps later he stepped out in a house he hadn’t been in for a while. Looking around he realized it was empty and he frowned. Pulling out a piece of paper, he left a note on the refrigerator and shadow walked back home.

Stepping in to his room Jude remembered Will and Spinster’s advice and began going over everything he needed to do in the next few hours. He created a list of steps, carefully considering and discarding different options, until he knew exactly what he was going to do and then, and only then, did he pull out his phone and call.

“Hey Jude” the voice answered happily.

“I need your help” Jude said without preamble and proceeded to give the other person some very clear instructions. He didn’t take no or try to explain, just told him that under no circumstances could he fail in this. After getting agreement, Jude hung up and went downstairs to help with dinner.

* * *

 

Jude was helping his moms with the salad when he went to set the table. “Jude, why have you set an extra place?” Lena asked him curiously.

“I invited someone for dinner” he said carefully. 

“Who?” Lena asked just as the doorbell rang.

“I got it” Jude yelled and ran for the door pulling it open and smiling at the man standing there. “You made it” he said happily.

“Thanks for inviting me, but your note was confusing” Adam answered as he walked in the house.

“It’s complicated” Jude said with a frown and led Connor’s dad in the house to the surprise of everyone. Jude deferred all questions during dinner until he was able to pull Adam, Lena, and Stef outside to talk. He explained everything to the three of them and shared his plan.

“Jude…I think you should tell Layla” Lena said concerned. Both she and Stef were looking unhappy while Adam was sitting there expressionless.

“I can’t, not yet mama” Jude said determinedly. “I’ve thought about this and we need to handle it the right way or things won’t get better.”

“Honey, we just aren’t sure this is the best way” Stef said trying to get through to Jude.

Jude looked at Adam who still hadn’t said anything when he looked up at Jude. “Are you sure?” he asked slowly. Jude nodded without hesitation. “Then you need to fix this, not the school or someone else” Adam said forcefully. “As long as your plan includes some serious…payback?” Adam said looking at the young boy with the determined face.

“After everything the two of them did? Trust me on that” Jude growled. 

Adam smiled and it wasn’t pretty. It was vicious and both Lena and Stef were surprised by how much the two of men sitting in front of them looked alike. Lena looked at Stef and saw that Stef was much more in line with Adam on this but was trying to be supportive of Lena. Lena sighed and looked at Jude and knew that he had to make these decisions and that being a Super was so different from anything she had dealt with as a parent or an educator. She finally nodded her agreement.

When he left the Adams-Foster’s house Adam pulled out his phone and called his ex-wife. He gave her enough information to get her on their side without giving anything away before hanging up, he knew she wouldn’t be able to not tell Connor about it. He looked back at the house and remembered how hard he had tried to keep Jude from his son and now he was working to get them back together. He smiled at how quickly things had changed.

* * *

 

“Connor” Victoria Jennings said as she walked into her son’s room. She looked around the mess of the room and her son who was lying on the bed as he had the last two days. He refused to eat, bathe, get up, or even talk about what was bothering him and she was getting worried. Adam’s call gave her the information she needed and she agreed with her ex that Connor’s tantrum was over.

“I think it is time for you to shower and get into some clean clothes. You can also clean this room up and get your things ready for tomorrow” she said crisply as she absently moved some things around the room.

“Tomorrow?” Connor muttered into his pillow.

“Yes. You are going back to Sky High tomorrow” she told him in a tone that brooked no debate.

Connor rolled over and looked at her unhappily. “I don’t want to go there anymore” he told her with a dejected look.

“Too bad” Victoria said without sympathy. “I’m sorry about you and Jude, but you are going to go to school tomorrow.”

Connor’s eyes widened because he hadn’t told his mom about Jude. “How?” his voice cracked.

Victoria’s icy façade cracked and she smiled down at her hurting son. “I recognize heartbreak Connor” she sighed and sat down beside him and pulled him into a hug. “I may not know all the details of what happened” she assured him “but I know you will get through this, with or without Jude.”

Connor felt the tears coming again. He had cried more than a few times since seeing Jude and that tramp kissing but they were tears of anger and frustration and loss. These were tears of pain as he cried and his mom held him. She rubbed his back and assured him he would be okay. He tried to convince her to let him stay home or train with Grandpa Jennings, but she shot that down quickly telling him he could live with her and go to Sky High or he could move back with his dad and go to Anchor Beach. Connor was stunned by her ultimatum but he finally agreed to return to school.

* * *

 

Connor frowned at Bill as he stepped off the transport pad and felt bad but he was determined to avoid any chance of looking happy about being here. “Connor” he heard a voice and looked up and saw Jacob standing there.

“Jake” Connor muttered and kept walking.

“Sorry to hear about what happened man” Jacob said falling in alongside the blonde.

Connor looked up at him and grimaced. “You know?” he asked, his voice cracking.

“Yeah” Jacob shook his head. “Jude told me what happened…man that was really messed up” he said putting his hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Thought you might like a wingman slash bodyguard today to avoid certain people” he told the blonde with a supportive smile.

Connor snorted gently at the idea of Jacob protecting him but he appreciated the gesture. “So I know his schedule, so we can avoid him all day with a little effort” Jacob told him easily. Connor smiled a bit as they walked to Connor’s aerial combat class.

Jude was on a mission and with Melissa’s help, he had located Ashleigh and was waiting at the corridor when she turned the corner and saw him and frowned. “Jude” she said with a put upon look. 

“Ashleigh” Jude’s voice was broken and throbbing with emotion. “You have to get him to talk to me” he pleaded.

Ashleigh looked like she was trying not to laugh. “Why? I’m pretty sure he was clear what he thought about you.”

“You don’t get it, he’s everything to me. Connor hasn’t answered my texts or calls since the fight. He has been gone but I heard he’s back today” Jude sniffled and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands, his shoulders slumped. Ashleigh smirked thinking he couldn’t see her. “If he doesn’t talk to me, then I guess I will go to his house. I can talk to his mom…maybe she can help me” he says with a sudden look of hope. 

Ashleigh looks surprised at that for a moment before she smiles sympathetically. “Oh, that’s not a good idea. I bet I can get him to talk to you. But I can’t promise what he will say…” she warns him sadly.

“That’s enough!” Jude says excitedly. “Just get him to talk to me again, at least once. Tell him to meet me in the gym at lunch. No one will be there then” Jude thanks her and she walks off with a strut.

Once she turns the corner Jude straightens back up and shifts into shadows and follows after her.

 

* * *

“Dude, let’s avoid the cafeteria today” Peter says to Connor and Jacob as they head to lunch. “I think we want to avoid the crowds” he suggests carefully.

Jacob agrees enthusiastically and the three of them all head to the gym. As they walk in they head for the bleachers and Connor sees Alex, Angie, and Wayne sitting there with food for the entire group.

“Guys?” Connor pauses as Angie runs up and hugs him. 

“Connor, you so didn’t deserve this” she tells him as she hugs him as tight as she can. The others all come over to commiserate with him and he holds back the tears. All of their friends are supporting him and he was sure that some of them would support Jude but it seemed that they were as upset with him as Connor was. He smiled as they all sat back down to eat.

* * *

 

Jude was standing outside the gym and bracing himself for this. He felt something behind him and turned around to see Connor walking towards him with his arm around Ashleigh’s waist and he shifted to a heartbroken expression.

“Connor” he called out, his voice breaking with emotion, “why?” 

“God you are pitiful” Connor sneered as he walked up to the brunette. “This. This is why. You are whiney, boring, and I am so out of your league. You should be happy I even gave you any attention” he laughs.

“What about our partnership? We were going to fight together?” Jude whimpers.

“Why should I want to be your partner” Connor snorts. “You only get strength from me and you are a major downer. I can do so much better.”

Jude bows his head and sniffs. “Fine. I get it. But we have tell Professor Sampson.”

“You can tell him” Connor says starting to turn around.

“Professor said he wanted to hear it from both of us, now, in the gym” Jude said, his voice defeated. “But if it’s such a big deal, I can tell him and you can just stand there” Jude sniffs. “He’s waiting for us.”

Connor sighs dramatically and turns to follow Jude into the gym along with Ashleigh. Jude holds the door for them as they walk inside the empty gymnasium. They get in a few feet when Jude reaches out and grabs Ashleigh’s arm.

“What?” she says a second before Jude shifts them into the shadows. “Where are we?” she says in a panicked voice looking around at the black and grey world that Jude took her to.

“This is the shadows Ashleigh” Jude says, his voice clear and laughing. “This is where my powers are their strongest. Go ahead, try teleporting out of it” he tells her and smirks at the look on her face. “This will keep you out of trouble while I deal with your boyfriend” Jude snarls before slipping back to the gym leaving her there alone.

“Jude!” Connor yells as he reappears and Jude glances up and sees his friends staring down at the floor. The look on the other Connor’s face, the one sitting with their friends, is priceless. 

Jude looks at this Connor and his eyes narrow. Connor steps back suddenly afraid as Jude’s eyes go black and his hair and clothes turn dark. “Tell me something **Connor** ” Jude’s disbelieving emphasis on his name causes the other boy to pale, “did you forget about my power to hear secrets?” Jude says, his voice low and dangerous.

“What?” the other Connor says looking scared.

“And just out of curiosity” Jude smiles a wicked smile “will your shapeshifting powers let you heal?”

‘Connor’ has a moment of realization and panic before Jude’s fist smashes into his nose, breaking it, and sending the boy flying across the gym, blood pouring down his face. Jude stalks over to the bleeding boy on the floor and snorts. “Guess not” Jude smiles and cracks his knuckles. “This is really gonna hurt…you” he snarls.

The other boy tries to flee but Jude grabs his shirt and throws him across the gym where he crashes into the floor and slides into the seats. Jude watches the fake Connor struggle to stand up when he sees the light out of the corner of his eye, something the other boy can’t see.

“Jude, don’t do this” fake Connor groans.

“The real Connor doesn’t bleed” Jude tells him.

The boy turns to run to try and get away and he gets halfway to the door when an energy blast hits the ground in front of him, exploding the floor, and throwing him backwards to crash along the floor. He looks up at the blazing form of Connor Stevens, eyes glowing and fire pouring off of him. “You miserable little fucker!” Connor yells.

The other boy turns and he realizes that he is trapped between the two most powerful supers in the school and Ashleigh has abandoned him. He holds up his hands and begs them to not hurt him. “I’m sorry!” he yells as his face shifts. “Please don’t hurt me!” They watch as Connor’s blonde hair turns to a messy brown, long and unkempt, a pair of glasses appear on his face as hazel eyes turn brown and Connor’s strong physique shifts to one more in line with a skinny teenager whose only exercise is playing video games.

Connor’s eyes widen and he looks over at Jude in shock. “Who are you?” Connor demands.

“Jack” the boy replies is barely audible.

“What about the red head?” Connor asks his boyfriend.

“That’s Ashleigh…she is a teleporter” Jude answers. “She was moving him around the school as he pretended to be you where I could see them and pretended to be me where you would see them. They wanted to break us up and get us to hate each other and maybe even to quit Sky High” he looked at the boy on the ground who was looking at him surprised that he knew everything.

“Jude? Connor?” Layla said walking into the gym with Principal Morris and Melissa following behind them. 

Jude proceeded to explain the situation to the women. How he had encountered ‘Connor’ and Ashleigh and how his powers revealed their deception. Once he knew about fake Connor, he followed him and Ashleigh till he heard all their plans. He enlisted Jacob, Peter, and Melissa to help him and once they got to the gym he removed Ashleigh. 

“Speaking of” Principal Morris said with a raised eyebrow. Jude nodded and stepped into shadow and pulled the crying girl back to the gym. She had grabbed on to him when he reappeared sobbing in fear and begging him to take her home as her powers didn’t work in the shadows.

“Well, it seems that the two of you have some explaining to do” Principal Morris said and she took Jack and Ashleigh back to her office.

“Jude” Layla said sternly. “You really should have come to us about this.”

Jude looks at her and shakes his head. “Sorry Layla, but they went after Connor and my relationship. This was a direct attack on us, not the school. I wanted to send a message.”

“What message?” Layla frowned.

Jude goes dark, the shadows intensify around him and his voice drops to a deep bass that sends shivers through everyone. “You mess with Connor and I will make you pay…no question, no excuse, nowhere to run” he growls.

“Damn” Connor whistles and his eyes are burning with relief and happiness when Jude looks over at him. Connor is staring at the boy who he gave his heart to and can’t believe he ever doubted. “You are so hot right now.”


	21. Dr. Genome attacks!

“…ude I’m serious” Connor said as they stepped off the platform in Jude’s garage. “I still can’t believe I was so stupid and believed that guy!” Connor had been apologizing for some time and no matter how many times Jude tried to convince him that it wasn’t his fault, the other boy was still quite worked up. “I should have dropped him off the side of Sky High” Connor muttered. “See if he could turn into someone who could fly.”

Jude snorted. “Connor, I’m serious, it’s okay. They were really good at their plan and what they were doing. If it hadn’t been for my powers I wouldn’t have figured it out. I was totally duped up till then” Jude confessed not particularly proud of himself for that. “It wouldn’t surprise me to find out that they had been planning this for a while. And you cannot throw people off the school…Layla would be upset…not to mention whoever was underneath them when they hit the ground wouldn't be very happy either” Jude snorted.

“Jude!” Connor looked shocked at his dark humor. Despite how angry he was he knew he couldn’t have thrown anyone off.

“I get it Connor, I was seriously thinking about leaving them both in the shadows or maybe dropping them in the ocean a couple miles off shore” Jude admitted, “but if we are going to be heroes we have to follow the rules no matter what and I don’t plan to let people like that change us” Jude’s voice sounded like he was trying to convince himself as well as Connor.

They walked into the house but didn’t see anyone yet, apparently they had beat everyone else home. “We’re home alone?” Connor asked with a smirk.

Jude gave him a look that made it clear he wasn’t getting anywhere. “Connor, we need to talk about this. We need to tell each other everything that happened and how it made us feel. Only by figuring all this out can we keep this from happening again. It’s like fighting Melissa. These kinds of attacks can’t be defended by our powers, no matter how strong or tough we are, and that makes us vulnerable. We need to prepare so it can’t happen again.

Connor nods in agreement and they go to Jude’s room where they talk. Connor shares everything that had happened as does Jude and they are able to figure out when it was really them and when it was the imposters. They even come up with some secret signals to test each other’s identity when one is acting strange and even some additional plans. They are finishing up when they hear noise from downstairs and they head down to see the family.

* * *

 

“Hey Jude, how was school?” Lena says as she sees her youngest come into the kitchen. “Connor?” she adds surprised by the blonde boy who entered after Jude. “I didn’t know you were coming over. Can you stay for dinner?” she asks. Callie and Mariana are helping put away the groceries they picked up.

“Sure” Connor says with a smile as he sits at the table while Jude walks over to grab them some water from the fridge. 

“We had a rough day at school” Jude tells her and then they proceed to tell her all about Jack and Ashleigh and what had happened with them at school.

Lena was looking pretty shocked by the time they finished. Mariana was furious and Callie looked slightly sick. “What’s going to happen to them?” Mariana demanded.

“Not sure” Jude replied. “Probably some serious detention and monitoring” he told her.

“Detention? But they are villains!” she exclaims.

Connor clears his throat “Sky High attempts to teach you how to responsibly use your powers, what you do with them after that is up to you” he quotes the school’s code. “They don’t expect that everyone will be heroes, in fact a lot of students are just there to master their powers so they don’t expose themselves or to help them find a way to be useful” he looks at the other three watching them. “Like…well one of our friends…she has low level healing powers so she wants to work with medical response teams. Not everyone, even with strong powers, wants to be on the front line” Connor adds.

“And it’s like every other high school with all the issues, but the students have powers which adds to the mix” Jude adds. “Technically all they did was play a prank on us” he scowls remembering how close it was “but kids don’t get kicked out for catfishing” he tells them. "Of course Connor nearly burning his face off when he was exposed might make him keep his distance from us" he snorted. Lena tried to frown at him while Callie and Mariana laughed.

Despite approving of Connor's action, Mariana and Callie are obviously still not happy about their punishment but Lena nods thoughtfully. She doesn’t like it either, but she gets it. Working with super teenagers isn’t that different from regular teenagers, just an extra wrinkle to it. “Well, I am glad you figured it out Jude and that you talked about how to prevent it from happening again” she told them.

* * *

 

Dinner was good though Jude and Connor had to retell the story so Brandon, Jesus, and Stef can hear and they are as annoyed and worked up as Mariana though they do laugh when Connor tells how he made sure that everyone got the message not to mess with them. He was telling them that the story had grown as it passed around the school with Connor and Jude nearly wiping the other two out and that the fight was 100 times more monumental than it actually was.

“You flying home Connor?” Stef asked him.

“Yes ma’am” he said quickly. “Jude and I were going to go to beach for a bit if that was okay and I will fly back later tonight. Not really tired and my mom said it was okay” he told them.

Stef nodded as she watched the two of them, noting how often they were looking at each other, touching as if to reassure themselves that each other was real. She looked at Lena and saw the same concern in her face. How were they supposed to protect their son who was now going to be a target for others to hurt simply because of who he was, even more than simply being gay? They were going to be active supers, Stef could tell that based on their training and how they talked. She also knew that the questions about their actions at the warehouse hadn’t gone away. She knew that Sentinel had talked to the San Diego police commissioner about their actions so there were no real official concerns but there was still a lot of talk and questions about them.

* * *

 

The next few weeks passed fairly uneventfully for Jude and Connor. They continued training with Sentinel and Spinster and were getting better and better. Will had even brought in some other supers to mix things up and Connor was in heaven getting to meet all these people. Jude enjoyed it as well, but it took Connor some serious restraint to not ask for autographs. Jude however knew how much it meant so he did try to take a picture of Connor with each new Super for his scrapbook. 

Will had said it was okay to take photos, but only if Connor was wearing a mask or disguise which he quickly agreed to do. He understood and even liked doing it though he did start making comments about the mask.

“I’m just saying it’s really stupid” Connor grumbled. Jude rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement. This wasn’t the first time Connor had complained about the mask that Will made him wear for photos. “Besides, wasn’t Professor Mode working on costumes for us?” he added this time.

Jude was surprised as he had honestly forgotten all about that. “Well, maybe we don’t get them till graduation?” he offered.

“I still think I would rock a cape” Connor muttered. He was really annoyed by that, especially as both the Commander and Jetstream had capes. Sure they were only for official events and they didn’t wear them to fight, but Connor had an answer for that too. “I’m too strong for my cape to be used against me either…or maybe she could make it breakaway or something” he added with a grumble as Jude tried not to laugh at his boyfriend's pouting.

“Connor, don’t you have aerial combat training in ten?” Jude asked slyly knowing how much Connor loved that class. He hid his smile as he saw Connor’s sudden change in mood as he gave him a quick kiss before taking off to meet up with Peter.

“Hey Jude” he looked up and saw Layla walking towards him. He stopped and nodded at her. “Professor Mode wants to see you and Connor in Room 211” she smiled mysteriously and walked off leaving Jude with more questions than answers. Since Connor had just left, he decided to go to see the short professor on his own and tell Connor after class.

It turns out that Professor Mode had finished a first draft of their costumes and wanted them to try them on. Jude was surprised but also excited. His costume was pretty basic: it looked all black with a logo of a crescent moon, also in black but different enough that Jude could see it, on his chest. It was form fitting like a good super suit should be with extra padding on the feet to keep him quiet. The mask covered Jude’s face and head with a cut out for his hair and his mouth.

Trying it on, he decided he liked it. “The fabric is reinforced dahling” Professor Mode told him. “It will work to help increase your resistance to injuries as well as giving some protection against fire, acid, and other attacks. The fabric isn’t actually all black, but rather is shades of dark grey, dark blue, and black that continuously shift. The idea is that if you are in shadows you won’t be a person shaped shadow, but just part of the darkness” she cackles at that. “It’s also super lightweight so you can wear it under your regular clothes and it will not be seen. The belts in each outfit are linked as a communications array so you can talk to each other. Your mask has the earphone and microphone built in so you can just talk normally.”

Jude thanks her over and over again for the uniform and he knows that Connor will like his, but he has to ask “Professor Mode, I know you don’t like them…but with Connor’s strength and invulnerability, are you sure you can’t add a cape?” he asks her carefully.

She glares at him and he throws his hands up in surrender “Or maybe we could make it breakaway, you know, if something pulls on the cape it comes off?” he offers.

“Well…I had actually considered that for the boy” she mutters. “He is strong enough it wouldn’t be an issue, but it sets a really bad example” she grumbles but goes over and pulls out a cape that matches Connor’s uniform and Jude gets a huge smile on his face at how he thinks Connor will react.

“It’s perfect!” he tells her happily.

Connor arrives about a half hour later and freezes when he sees Jude in his costume of black and greys and gets a huge smile on his face. “Wow!” he says happily. “You look….” Jude remembers the look on Connor’s face before the Prom and this is significantly better. 

“You have one too” he tells the other boy who suddenly looks around for his uniform but doesn’t see it. He does see Professor Mode though. “Professor” he says politely.

“Here” she sighs and hands him the large bundle of gold and white material and shoves him behind the screen to change. 

Jude laughs at Connor’s expression but then the short woman is once again pointing out all the details of his uniform when he hears Connor exclaim happily “I got a cape!” Jude holds back his laugh at the Professor's weary sigh and exasperated expression.

Connor steps around the screen and Jude’s eyes widen in appreciation. His uniform is as skin tight as Jude's, but the color scheme is so much more Connor. The top part of his uniform on his chest is a bright white with a yellow-gold starburst in the center. Golden armbands at his wrist and his yellow-gold cape provide a great contrast. His pants are very tight, much to Jude's approval, and are white with yellow stripes on the outer edges with yellow boots and a belt. His mask is white, where Jude's is black, but it looks just like Jude’s. Jude definitely likes how Connor looks!

As much as he likes how Connor looks with the cape, he definitely doesn’t think it would work on him. Knowing his luck he would actually get it caught somewhere and besides, with his need to be stealthy, a flowing cape seemed pretty stupid. “Well?” Connor asks them both happily as he turns around to show off. Jude laughs as Professor Mode starts going over all the features of the costumes once again and then they have to take them off and pack them to take home. They will be able to wear them only when permitted, at certain classes, and at graduation. If they want to make any significant changes, they can contact her about them closer graduation. That's when they learn that during senior year, they will get to wear them during training exercises.

Since today is Friday, Connor is going to Jude’s to spend the weekend in San Diego. Connor and his dad have been trying to work on their relationship and they have a deal. Anytime Connor comes to town, Connor stays with Jude on Friday after classes. Then Connor and his dad spend Saturday afternoon together and Jude joins them later for dinner and evening fun, usually movies or games. So they typically spend Friday night at the Fosters, Saturday night at Adam’s, and they vary the Sundays with Connor often going back to see his mom about half the time. Jude has even gone with him more than once to visit and sometimes both Jude and Connor will spend the whole weekend in LA. It’s tough finding time to spend with everyone’s parents and family and each other, but since Jude and Connor don’t sleep as much anymore they get a lot of their together time when everyone else is asleep.

* * *

 

ADAMS-FOSTER HOUSE

Everyone is sitting around the dining room table eating and laughing when Stef’s cell phone rings and she gets up to answer it while everyone looks nervous. She steps into the family room to get away from everyone and then comes back in a few minutes. “Everyone go upstairs and pack a bag in case you have to evacuate” Stef orders them.

“What’s happening?” Lena asks nervously. 

“Dr. Genome is attacking San Diego” Stef tells them. Dr. Genome is a super who uses his hyper intelligence to breed super monsters, some giant ones like Godzilla or smaller monsters to attack banks and the like, and then uses them as his muscle to commit his crimes. Luckily his monsters have a short shelf life as they rarely live more than a day or two, but they can cause lots of problems while they are alive. He has attacked LA, San Francisco, and Seattle, but never San Diego before. “I want all of you packed and ready if we have to evacuate the city. He is currently at the naval shipyards with a giant monster, and while they have him and his monster contained at the moment, if it looks chances or that he might head this way, I want all of you to be safe!”

“Mom” Jude starts to stand up along with Connor when Stef cuts him off.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” she yells. “He is a majorly bad Super boys, you are so not ready for that and the city has already called for help” she tells them.

“Looks like it’s arrived” Jesus calls from the living room. 

They all run in and Jesus and Brandon have the TV on showing the 100 foot monster attacking the navy ships while Dr. Genome is flying around in his hover craft. The scene shifts and everyone gasps when they see the red, white, and blue blur of Jetstream fly in and drop the Commander towards the monster. The most famous Supers have arrived in San Diego!


	22. Commander and Jetstream visit San Diego

The reporter on the television is reporting from the News 8 helicopter that was trying to balance between keeping its distance and getting close to the monster. They all move around the room so that they can all see the TV with the reptilian creature towering over the water as it attacks the ships in the harbor. Dr. Genome is flying behind it on a kind of flying disc with a control stand as he directs the monster. They see Jetstream flying in carrying the Commander when, all of sudden, she lets him go and he falls toward the creature, fists extended.

Right before he hits it though, the monster swings it’s arm and backhands the Commander away to crash into a warehouse on the docks. The news helicopter shudders from the force of the impact as they had gotten a bit too close to get the picture of the famous ‘super punch’. The monster moves towards the warehouse as Jetstream flies up behind Dr. Genome. He doesn’t seem to see her coming and they are all sure that she is going to take him out when she gets about 3 meters (10 feet) from the platform and suddenly she crashes into a glowing ball surrounding the platform. It appears to be a force field that flings her backwards.

Dr. Genome turns around and doing something with the panel, they see some kind of a ray blast after her. But she is too fast for him and is able to dodge the beam. Jesus and Mariana both cheer as they see Jetstream accelerate and fly back toward the warehouse just as the Commander comes out of the rubble. She grabs him and then flies up to drop him at the monster. However, this time after letting go she flies toward the monster’s head as a distraction. The monster is way too slow to catch her and she succeeds in allowing the Commander to get close enough to land his trademarked super punch.

Jesus and Brandon both cheer as the Commander punches the monster, causing it to stagger back but then it recoils and slams him away again. The Commander flies into a docked ship, plowing through it to come out the other side and crash into the water. 

“Connor, did the monster looks like he just got stronger?” Jude muttered.

“What?” Mariana asked looking at her brother.

“That hit. The first one sent the Commander through the warehouse was strong, but this one was much, much harder. It’s like it got stronger between the blows” he says confused.

“That doesn’t make any sense Jude” Jesus tells him. “It probably just tried harder than before if it looks like that.”

Jude looks at Connor and sees a similar confused look on his face. “I think you are right Jude” Connor says carefully. “I’ve been hit by Sentinel and Spinster, both pretty hard, and you can tell the difference in power levels.”

On the TV, Jetstream had managed to grab the end of a wheel of wire cable and was flying the cable around the monster, tying up it’s legs while the Commander, who had gotten back on the pier, was throwing shipping containers at the monster, each one slamming into the beast.

Caught in the wires, the monster tripped falling onto the pier and then the Commander jumped. His super strength allowed him to get really high before he started coming down, picking up speed. This time the hero landed and double fist punch right on the head of the beast that caused the entire pier to shake, the concrete to crack, and nearby windows to shatter.

“ALL RIGHT!” Jesus and Brandon cheered and high fived. Jude and Connor took a deep breath and relaxed a bit. That was an amazing punch and the whole family looks surprised when they actually felt the slight tremor in the ground as the shockwave caused by the Commander’s punch reached them from the harbor.

“Oh my god!” Mariana shrieked. “Was that the punch?” she screamed.

Jude and Connor both smirked at the demonstration of strength but then something changed on the screen. The monster heaved itself up, it was still moving! Jude’s eyes widened knowing how powerful that hit was when the monster drove its own fist down on the Commander who disappeared in a cloud of dust. The news coverage couldn’t see through the dust but they did see Jetstream move to buzz the beast’s head when its arm moved to strike her much faster than they had seen before. It hit the flying Super, sending her catapulting out towards the ocean. She was out of sight in seconds and the reporter was stunned speechless. The camera panned back and they saw the Commander laying in a large crater, unmoving. 

“I don’t know if you can see this Mike” the reporter’s voice was ragged “but it looks like the Commander isn’t moving and Jetstream was knocked out to sea. We are trying to see if the Commander is moving but we are not seeing anything…wait a second, what is that?” she asks suddenly nervous.

A blur of red, white, and blue suddenly crosses the screen to land right beside the Commander and they see him. “Sentinel!” Jude and Connor both shout at seeing their teacher in his uniform. Will lands and reaches down and grabs his father, the Commander, and lifting him up in his arms he takes off like a rocket, seconds before the beasts foot stomps down into the crater where they were both moments before. Sentinel is a blur and then gone.

“Mike I don’t know if you all got that but Sentinel just flew in and grabbed the Commander before flying away. We are not sure exactly what’s going on but the monster is now engaging the navy” she reports.

On the TV they all see the naval ships in the area had started firing at the monster while Dr. Genome fired lasers at them from his flying platform.

“Okay, Lena I want you to get the kids out of here” Stef says quickly. “Everyone get your stuff and to the car now!”

Jude and Connor both look at each other as they race up the stairs to Jude’s room. “Jude” Connor says clearly agitated. Jesus comes into the room right after them and grabs his bag and starts throwing stuff in it. Jude grabs his and Connor’s bag and ducks into the bathroom.

“Connor, you know moms will not allow us to help” Jude begins.

“Jude we have to!” Connor tells his boyfriend. “That thing just took out the Commander and Jetstream! Will is probably getting them to safety before going back to fight it. He needs help!”

Jude frowns. He had also realized that Will was saving his parents, he had probably already rescued his mom from drowning first, and that with them both incapacitated, he would need help. That monster seemed designed to fight their powers and while Connor was strong too, his solar powers were totally different. Jude probably wouldn’t be much help against the monster, but he had an idea or two about Dr. Genome. “Okay, but we have to tell them we are going” he tells his boyfriend.

Connor smiles and they both quickly strip out of their clothes and pull on the new uniforms that they had only worn once so far. Jude looked over at Connor as he was pulling on his boots and smiled at the view. Way better than baseball pants! His train of thought was broken by Connor coughing and he looked up and realized that he had been caught staring. He blushed as Connor chuckled lustily.

“Ready?” Connor said pinning his cape on. Jude nodded and pulled on his mask. Jude opened the door to his room stepping out and saw Jesus with his back to the door. 

“You guys ready?” Jesus asked as he was turning around and then he froze seeing Jude in his uniform. “Jude?” he whispered and then his eyes got wider as Connor walked into the room, cape flowing and he swallowed “Wow. Oh wait” he paled realizing what they were about to do.

Connor and Jude looked at each other and nodded and headed for the stairs. Jude had just taken the first step when he heard a gasp and saw Callie standing in her doorway looking shocked. Jude steeled his resolve at her panicked expression and they both continued down the stairs where they heard Lena and Stef arguing. Stef was telling Lena that she had to report to the harbor as all police were being called in to help. Lena was trying to get her to come with the family when she looked over and saw Jude and Connor and her eyes widened with shock and she lost her voice.

“Oh no” she pleaded in a whisper causing Stef to turn around and see the two boys come into the room in full uniforms.

“NO!” Stef yelled, looking furious. “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” she declared. Jude noticed his brothers and sisters coming down the stairs behind them. “You are not going to fight that, that THING!” she tells them in her strongest voice.

“Mom, we have to” Jude’s voice is calm and controlled. “Will is going to need our help.”

“Are you insane?!” Stef yells. “That thing just took out two of the most powerful and experienced supers on the planet!”

“Actually both the Commander and Jetstream are Level 4’s while Jude and I are both 5’s. We are two of the most powerful supers. They are just more experienced” Connor says calmly.

If looks could kill, or if Stef had laser eyes, Jude is pretty sure that not even Connor’s invulnerability would have withstood the glare that she gave him. She was so mad that she was having trouble finding words and Jude bit down on his lip to keep from smiling or laughing.

“Connor, we know that you are both really strong, but you have neither the training nor skill…” Lena said carefully.

“Actually” Jude said interrupting her “we have. While we are not done by any means, we have been training and we have been learning to analyze our opponents to develop fighting strategies. Just because someone is powerful, doesn’t mean they are unbeatable.”

“What?” Stef yells confused.

“It’s like when you fight Spinster” Connor explains. “She is a level 3, but she can kick Supers that are much more powerful than her because she knows how to use her powers effectively. It’s how come the Commander and Jetstream are so good. They use their powers right. This monster can’t do that because Dr. Genome’s beasts are single shots. They die within a day or two so they are crude and blunt.”

“But a monster designed to fight them won’t be designed to fight us” Jude says.

Stef stammers for a moment trying to find words and Lena looks nervous. “You are too young! Too inexperienced! And it’s way too dangerous!” Stef begins.

Connor looks at Jude who is struggling with his moms’ reactions. “Stef I’m sorry, but you are not my mom” Connor says looking at her. Stef’s eyes bug out at his comment. “You can’t tell me not to do anything” he adds.

“Your parents will not let you do this!” she yells. 

Connor shrugs "They aren't here" and looks at Jude uncertainly. 

“Mom” Jude says gently. “Are you going down there?” he asks her. Lena closes her eyes and turns away as Stef looks trapped.

“That’s totally different” she whispers.

“No it isn’t mom” Jude says gently taking her hand in his. “You are going because it’s your job and you have to do it. You want us out of town to be safe but you are going to face a monster with no powers or training. You are putting your life in jeopardy to help others. How can you expect me to do any less?” he asks, his voice patient but resolute. He pretends not to hear Mariana’s gasp at his comment.

“How many people might be saved by us being there?” Connor adds causing Stef to tremble.

“Jude” Callie’s voice is barely a whispered plea but Jude hears the fear in her voice as she comes and grabs him in a desperate hug.

“I hope I’m not interrupting” a voice says from the door to the backyard. Everyone turns around and there is a collective gasp when they see Sentinel standing there. “Nice uniforms” he says to Jude and Connor with a slight smirk on his lips.

“Sentinel!” Jude and Connor say together.

“No” Stef whispers desperately.

“I’m sorry but I caught the end of the argument and I hate to cause problems” he takes a deep breath as he looks at Lena and Stef “but I need help.”


	23. Battle at the Bay

“I’m sorry but I caught the end of the argument and I hate to cause problems” he takes a deep breath as he looks at Lena and Stef “but I need help.”

Stef looks stricken as she turns towards Lena, fear clear in her eyes, as she desperately tries to fight this.

“Mom” Jude says gently but she is already shaking her head. 

“You are not supposed to have to do this yet Jude” she looks at him and Connor and they see her eyes shining. “You are too young!” she wails.

Jude doesn’t pause but moves to embrace her and Lena in a momma sandwich that is less about reassuring him than reassuring both of them. “Mom…momma…I have Connor and Will here, they are super strong and crazy invulnerable” he tells her.

“You aren’t though” Stef gasps. “That thing could kill you! You realize that don’t you?” she pleads.

“Yes I do mom” Jude says sounding nervous for the first time. “Which is why I have no plans to try and fight it” he says with a slight smile. He tries not to laugh at the expression on both of his moms’ faces as well as his siblings but he looks over at Connor who is smiling happily. “Mom…that thing is crazy big, my powers are not gonna stop it. I have no intention of even trying, I’m leaving that to Will and Connor.”

Connor chuckles causing everyone to look at him in surprise. He rubs his hands together gleefully “This is going to be so much fun!” he says happily. “Not really Jude’s thing” he adds.

“I don’t understand” Lena asks looking between them. “You said you had to go help and you are wearing your uniform” she trails off as she looks at Jude.

“Connor and Will are like tanks and bombs, they can deal with the creature” Jude nods and then smirks “Dr. Genome however…he I can handle.”

“Good plan” Will nods at them. “Actually what I was thinking as well. You should be able to bypass his force field Jude” he pauses as he looks at both of them. “Actually, I guess I should call you your code names…do you have them yet?”

Both boys look surprised. “Uh…not yet” Connor mumbles. “I mean we have been talking and we want names that show we are together, but not exactly sure.”

“What have you thought of?” Mariana asked curiously.

“Well, we thought about Apollo and Hades, you know after the Greek myths, but felt it might be too grandiose” Jude tells her.

“Then we thought about Solar Flare and Sunspot, you know the bright and dark parts of the sun” Connor adds.

“Jacob and Alex suggested ShadowWalker and Star Lord” Jude added to Connor’s groan. 

“I am not doing that Jude!” he complained.

“What about Hyperion and Erebus?” Mariana suggested.

“Where did you get that?” Jude said surprised but sounding interested.

“Well, Hyperion was a Titan in Greek mythology, the Titan of Light and the east, associated with watching from above. Erebus was a primordial being in Greek mythology, he was the embodiment of night and darkness” she told him.

Everyone stared at Mariana and she blushed. “Fine, I got hooked on Greek myths when I read Percy Jackson, happy?” she admitted.

“Hyperion” Connor muttered trying it out. He smiled and looked at Jude. “Erebus?” he said with a smirk.

“Isn’t that a bit egotistical Con?” Jude asked carefully. “Naming ourselves after super powerful gods? What about something simple like Eclipse and Solstice?”

“Not to rush you or anything but a giant monster is destroying San Diego” Will reminds them and snorted at how they both flushed with embarrassment.

“Stef” Will turned towards her “I will do everything to keep them safe and I have called in help, but I really need them now. It can save lives” he tells her.

Jude and Connor both watch her as she obviously struggles and Jude sighs heavily. “If you say no…I won’t go mom” he says finally ignoring Connor’s gasp. He sees her look at him hopefully but then her face crumbles.

“But you would hold it against me” Stef whispers. “And every life lost…I think I might too” she admits as Lena hugs her tightly. She looks at Will fiercely “You will keep them safe” she says desperately and Jude hears the sudden intake of breath from Callie as she realizes that Stef has given permission.

“We need to go, now” Will says forcefully.

“By shadow” Jude stops him. “We can move almost as fast and he can’t spot us. I can drop you both off on top of the monster and get you the element of surprise.”

Connor smiles and takes Jude’s hand and looks at Will who reaches for Jude’s other hand. “See you soon!” Connor says with a smile and the three Supers vanish into darkness.

* * *

 

Stef leaves shortly after but agrees, reluctantly, to let them all stay when Lena refuses to leave without her and Jude. They surround the TV and watch as the helicopter is giving a clear shot of the monster fighting the ships. They can see Dr. Genome flying around but he either doesn’t care about the helicopter or he wants them to broadcast his victory.

It is a few seconds later when there is a flash and they see Sentinel flash into the scene. They watch him fly at super speed to smash into the monster knocking it back to crash into the warehouse. The blast wave from his punch is greater than when the Commander punched it but the beast seems to recover even faster this time.

The monster swings at Sentinel but the Super is able to quickly dodge the fist but then he is blasted by Dr. Genome’s ray gun and he crashes into the ground.

* * *

“You can’t beat my creature Sentinel!” Dr. Genome gloats manically. “He is designed to defeat you and the Commander and Jetstream! Your parents have already fallen and you will fail to stop it as well! Every time you strike him he gets stronger and faster. You cannot beat him!” he shrieks with delight.

The monster moves towards Sentinel as he staggers to his feet and it roars as it reaches for the red, white, and blue Super but then there is a flash of blinding white light. The monster roars and, throwing its arm across its face, staggers backward. The light clears but hanging in the air is a figure, glowing brightly, with a cape flowing in the wind. 

Connor feels the rush of excitement and tries to focus but this is what he has been training for and the chance to finally let loose is something he has been dying to do. He has always had to hold back, be careful, not go overboard with his powers, but with this artificial monster, he can let loose. And he does.

The blast of heat and light he unleashes at the monster burns off nearly half the creature's face, blinding its right eye and searing the flesh as it screams. The monster tries to turn away but Connor is fast and in the next moment he is flying around the creature at super speed, his eyes blazing lasers that cuts deep wounds into the creature. The monster jumps into the water to escape the burning coming from the glowing Super but it doesn’t work. Connor’s fire and blasts boils the water away as he continues his attack.

Connor spots Dr. Genome shrieking out of the corner of his eye but he remembers his training…trust your partners. So he just focuses on avoiding the blasts while unleashing his own on the monster and he feels a surge of satisfaction when he manages to sever the beast’s arm with his last blast.

Suddenly the monster reels as Sentinel smashes into the beast causing it to roar and lunge for the super as he flies past but Will leads the beast straight to Connor whose blast tears chunks out of it again. It only takes a few minutes in real time, though it feels much longer, before the combination of Will and Connor manage to finally destroy the creature just as Dr. Genome’s screams of vengeance ring out.

“Damn you Sentinel!! I will destroy you and your family! I will erase you from the earth!! I will…” whatever he was going to say was cut off by the sudden scream from the villain.

Sentinel and Connor had both tried to grab Dr. Genome or his platform but the force field had managed to repel both of them easily. He had been ranting when Connor saw the shadows gathering behind the madman when Jude’s hands had reached out of the darkness and grabbed the evil geneticist.

His screams were cut off suddenly when he disappeared and they saw Jude smash his fist into the control panel causing it to explode in a shower of sparks. The platform went spinning out of control and Connor unleashed a blast at it causing it to fly up and out over the harbor where moments later it exploded in a fiery ball of light.

Sentinel signaled and he and Connor both landed on the pier near the police lines that had been set up. “Stay here and let me know when Erebus arrives” he says using Jude's codename just as they both see a sudden shift in the air and then they see Dr. Genome’s unconscious body crash down into the nearby packing crates. Will looks up and sees Jude stepping out of the shadows looking way too pleased with himself.

“Any trouble?” Connor asked with a smirk.

Jude smiled wickedly. “He screamed a lot. Turns out he is afraid of the dark. He definitely did not like the shadows” Jude says happily. “I did strip him of all his tech and toys” he tells Will.

Sentinel nods and walks over to grab Dr. Genome and drag him to the cops. Jude and Connor watch the older Super talking to the authorities and they see not only the press with their cameras but lots of civilians all looking towards them with their phones out taking pictures. Jude spots Stef controlling the crowd but doesn’t say or do anything to give her away.

“You were pretty amazing there” Jude says softly to Connor who hasn’t stopped smiling since the fight ended. 

“I know, right? Once we realized that it was getting stronger, I just was able to cut loose. Jude, I have never let loose like that! It was awesome!” he was so excited he was literally hovering and Jude snorted as he grabbed his arm and forced him back to earth. “And you were amazing too. I saw how you grabbed him and dragged him into the shadows. And Sentinel and I couldn’t get through that force field but you just walked right through. And boy did he scream!” Connor laughed.

“Okay, down boy!” Jude snickered. “I know this was awesome but you know your mom and dad are probably going to be as unhappy as my parents were about this” he reminded the blonde.

Connor’s smile slipped a bit. “Probably” he agreed looking uncertain but then the smile was back “but it was still awesome!” Connor reached out and grabbed Jude’s hand and pulled hard causing the other boy to fly towards him and crash into his chest. “Think I deserve a reward” he says, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Here? Now?” Jude says shocked as he looks around at all the cameras.

“They might as well get used to it now” Connor teases but let’s Jude decide. Jude smiles and, grabbing onto Connor’s uniform right where the cape attaches, he pulls him in and smashes their lips together, kissing him fiercely. They both hear the sudden increase in clicks and snaps coming from the phones as well as a sudden surge in volume in the voices coming from the crowd as they all start yelling. Jude is pretty sure he hears some of them calling out with questions as well as several whistles and "you go boys". Connor pulls back just a bit and smiles. “Do we need to stay around?” he asks with a tinge of hope in his voice.

Jude looks over to see Will talking with two plainclothes men while a truck is taking away Dr. Genome. “Let’s wait for Sentinel before we leave. I don’t want to get our teacher mad at us” he winks.

Another second and Sentinel is walking back with one of the guys in the black suits and a police officer with a lot of stuff on her chest. “Ahem!” Will clears his throat. “This is Police Commissioner Sanchez” he points to the officer and then the other man “and this is Agent Deloach of the MRA or Metahuman Relations Agency” Will says to the two boys. “Agent, Commissioner, this is Hyperion and Erebus, two of the newest Supers, and although they are still very much in training, they were willing to help us out in this situation.”

“Our thanks” Agent Deloach says without any emotion causing Jude and Connor to look at each other askance. “Dr. Genome has been a problem and your help capturing him is appreciated” he tells them quickly and then turns and walks away.

“Nice guy” Connor mutters.

“MRA bureaucrats!” Commissioner Sanchez mutters and then turns to the two of them with a genuine smile. “I, however, am very happy for all the assistance. You saved a lot of lives and property here in San Diego and I appreciate it. I am sure I speak for the mayor and the entire city as well” she tells them.

“Well, it’s our home too” Jude assures her and her eyes widen.

“Are you going to be based here?” she asked carefully containing her excitement.

“Too soon Commissioner” Sentinel says quickly cutting off the boys. “They are both still in training and have a ways to go before they will be ready to settle down” he smiles to soften his comments, especially as he sees her face fall at the denial. Jude can hear her thinking about what it would mean to have both of them working with her department. Two supers who appeared to be as strong as, or even stronger than, the Commander and Jetstream.

“We also have to finish high school first” Connor says trying to be considerate and sees the shock on her face.

“You are still in high school?” she gasps. Jude and Connor both glance at each other both thinking that they haven't started high school yet but don't say anything.

“Ahem” Sentinel clears his throat meaningfully and Sanchez looks suitably chastised. 

“Right…secret identity and all. Can't tell us anything about who you two really are. Well, aside from being boyfriends with the kissing and all” she says with a smirk and then laughs as she sees both boys blush. Her eyes widen for a second with recognition "Hey, were you the two at the warehouse a while ago? And will you be talking to the press?” she asks seeming to finally be at ease.

“No comment on the first question and no to the second” Sentinel says cutting off both of them. “They are both leaving…now” he says looking at them with a raised eyebrow “and I will talk to the media for a moment.” Sentinel nods at Sanchez who walks away and he turns back. “Erebus, Hyperion, can you go get my parents and take them to your house? I have called in healers to meet you there. Erebus I hid them somewhere safe, can you see where?” he asks Jude.

Jude suddenly realizes he knows where Will stashed his parents and nods. He looks at Connor who had an expression of unhappiness when Will said they couldn’t talk to the press but it changed immediately when he asked them to get his parents. “We can do that” Connor assured him and the both saw some of the tension leave Will’s face. He was worried about his parents they could tell, but he was doing his job as they taught him.

“Thanks…I mean it. I will see you there shortly” he nods and then turns to the crowd. Jude looks over at Connor and offers his hand which Connor quickly takes before Jude shifts them into the shadows and towards the building where the Commander and Jetstream were hidden by Will. They needed to get them and get them to the house and call for help. 

Jude suddenly smiles and wonders what his family is going to say when they show up with those guests!


	24. The Aftermath

Connor looks around the rooftop where Jude delivered them and spots two bodies lying up against a small wall near the edge, covered with blankets. Stepping over to them, Jude right behind him, he takes a deep breath as he emits a soft light that illuminates the reclining forms. Gasping at the scene, Connor quickly turns toward Jude, eyes wide, to see his response but Jude’s face is unreadable. Looking back at the battered and bruised face of Jetstream, her eyes swollen shut, blood dried in her hair, and Connor can hear her ragged breathing . The Commander looks better in the face, but his breathing was also ragged, like he couldn’t quite catch his breath.

“Sounds like broken ribs or a punctured lung” Jude said emotionlessly as he knelt beside the famous super. “Jetstream looks pretty banged up and I think that her leg is broken too.” Connor looks down and sees her twisted leg that he hadn't noticed before.

Connor looked at Jude in shock. “How are you okay with this?” he croaks.

Jude looks at him in surprise. “I’m not okay Con, but seeing people I know beaten up? You learn to shut down your feelings and focus on getting them help.” Connor swallows nervously as he realizes what Jude means but rather than reply, he just nods. 

“So what should we…” he asks uncertainly.

“You pick up and carry the Commander. I will carry Jetstream and I will walk us back to the house” Jude tells him crisply.

Connor frowns in thought. “Why don’t I fly him?”

“Better to not risk anyone seeing us” Jude explains.

Connor nods and picks up the Commander and wonders at the strangeness of it all. Here he is, Connor Stevens, 14 year old and a new Super, carrying the most famous Super in his arms like a little kid. He never imagined something like this happening to him. He steps over to where Jude has stood up, Jetstream held in his arms, as Connor maneuvers his arm to link with Jude’s.

“Hold on” Jude warns and everything goes black. Connor has traveled with Jude in the shadows before, but it never gets any less weird. The black and white world with random glowing shapes are hard for him to focus on and he wonders if Jude sees it differently. Jude is walking a stop/go gait where he pauses after each step. The scenery blurs with each step but it only takes a few steps before he stops and gives Connor a nod to warn him and then they are standing in his back yard.

“SHIT!” they hear a sudden yell and look over to see Jesus jumping back with a look of terror on his face before he recognizes them. “BRO! Don’t do that it’s really…Oh my god! Is that the Commander?” Jesus yells looking at the man Connor is carrying. He looks at Jude and his eyes widen further “And Jetstream?” he squeaks.

Jude moves toward the house with Connor right behind him “Get the door” he says to his brother who jumps and runs to open it for them. They walk in only to see Callie and Mariana coming out of the kitchen looking confused and when they see them, they start to freak out.

“OH MY GOD!” Mariana yells. Lena comes running with Brandon behind her and she sees them holding the supers and suddenly her face turns serious.

“Jude, why aren’t they in a hospital?” she asks as she directs them to the couch where Jude lays Jetstream down. Connor lays the Commander down on the floor next to her, putting a pillow under his head.

“Will said he called for healers and to bring them here” he tells her as he stands up. Lena looks uncertain but she tells Mariana and Callie to go get the first aid kit which she uses to try and help Jetstream with her injuries. 

“Hello?” they hear a man’s voice coming from the kitchen. 

Everyone looks panicked for a moment.

“Hyperion? Erebus?” the voice says and Jude and Connor look at each other. Only Will and the family knows their names so far. 

“In here” Jude says suddenly surprising everyone. A man and a woman both come from the kitchen and spotting the injured supers, they quickly move to the couches.

The man kneels down beside Jetstream and, his hands surrounded by a soft golden light, touches them to Jetstream’s face. The bruises and cuts heal like he is erasing them, the bruises change from black to purple to yellow to her normal skin tone. They watch as the man moves his hands over her body as he continues the healing. Lena gasps at the obvious changes happening and then Jude notices Jetstream’s eyes start to flicker and suddenly she is awake and groaning. The man moves over to the Commander and starts healing him next.

“What hit me?” Jetstream croaks.

“Basically, Godzilla” Connor says with a snort and chuckles as she lowers her hand to glare at the blonde teenager. “Sorry, it was Dr. Genome’s beast” he tells her. She opens her mouth but is distracted by the groan from the floor.

“Oh man” the Commander groans as the man seems finished as his hands stop glowing.

“You were pretty banged up this time Commander” he says with a sigh.

“Fred?” the Commander mutters as he looks up at the healer. “What are you doing here?”

“Sentinel called and said to come here” he says with a smile and looked up at Jude. “Appears these young men helped your boy out.”

The Commander suddenly looks stricken. “Will! Where is he?” he says jumping up. He looks around the house and suddenly notices Jude’s family.

“Aren’t you supposed to use code names?” Jude asks with a smirk.

The Commander looks at Jude in annoyed surprise. “And you are?” he asks and Jude suddenly is aware of who he is talking to. The Commander is one of the strongest supers known and right now he is looking very ready for a fight.

“We are the guys who just saved your butts” Connor growls as he steps toward the older super, taking the attention off of Jude.

“Steve” Jetstream says in that tone that only a spouse can truly master as she steps between Connor and the Commander. 

“Honey! Code names!” the Commander says looking stricken. Jude tries not to laugh at the look on his face when the Commander says that, only realizing that Jetstream used his real name. Steve?

“Remember the new supers Will has been working with at Sky High? The two boys who have light and dark powers? The level fives?” she asks him with a raised eyebrow.

The Commander suddenly looks sheepish. “Oh…yeah” he mutters. He looks over at Lena and the rest of the family. “Okay, would someone please explain what’s happening” he asks.

“Sounds like my cue” they hear from the patio door as Will walks in and smiles as he sees his parents. They both look relieved and the three Strongholds go in for a group hug. 

A few moments later they break apart and Will looks over at Jude and Connor. “Thank you” he says simply and the both smile and nod back.

“Mom, Dad, this is Jude and Connor. They helped me stop Genome and his beast. Actually they did most of the work, I just did the clean-up” Will told his parents. Will smiles at the two teens and then looks over at Lena “And brought them home safe and sound” he tells her and she smiles as she comes over to give the hero a thank you hug.

“Thank you for that” Lena tells him.

“Wait a second” the Commander says looking uncertain “Will, I thought the new level fives were just starting out? Do you mean that they are not even in high school yet?” he asks severely.

“Wait, what?” Jetstream says looking at Will who is looking nervous. “I thought they were close to graduation” she said looking at her son.

“Well….” Will said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

“How old are you boys?” Jetstream says suddenly turning to look at the teens.

“Uh…fourteen” Connor says looking at Jude for support.

“FOURTEEN!?!” the Commander and Jetstream both yell. 

“Will are you insane?” the Commander yells. “Why would you involve them? They are too young!” 

“Hey!” Jude and Connor both yell.

The Commander and Jetstream argue with Will for several moments about how dangerous it is being a hero and the importance of training and maturity and Will argues back that time was limited but it is having no effect on his parents when there is a sharp whistle that stops everyone.

“ENOUGH!” everyone turns in surprise to look at Mariana. “In case you forgot…it was Jude and Connor who just stopped Dr. Genome and his monster, saved San Diego, and helped get both of you to the healer, so I think they proved themselves” she said pointing her finger dangerously at the Commander as she steps up to him.

He reared back a little despite his invulnerability. Taking a deep breath “That’s not the point young lady” he starts.

“Oh? Saving everyone isn’t the point of all…all…this?” Mariana cuts him off and waves around the room. 

“It’s about being careful” Jetstream says calmly stepping in. “It’s obvious that the boys are powerful and Will’s training with them is definitely working, but we don’t normally let fourteen year olds put their lives at risk” she explains.

“Our mom was down at the harbor, she’s a cop, and I can tell you that Jude and Connor going there probably saved her life and a bunch of others…especially as that guy took out both of you so easily” she added with a slightly condescending look.

“Mariana!” Lena yelled at her daughter. “That is rude.” Jude hears Jesus mutter in the background something that sounds suspiciously like "go sis."

“Rude, maybe” the Commander said with a sigh "but also accurate. Dr. Genome apparently designed his beast especially with us in mind” he said.

“He did” Will added. Everyone looked at him in surprise. He looked at the group, smiling at Connor and Jude before continuing “It was designed to absorb physical attacks and then use that energy to become stronger and faster. The more we punched it, the stronger it got” Will told his parents.

“Then how did you stop it?” Jetstream asked.

“Connor’s powers are solar based. So he was able to burn and laser the thing to pieces. Carved it up like a turkey” he said smiling at the suddenly blushing Connor. “And since Jude can teleport using shadows, he stepped right through Genome’s force field and knocked him out.” Will looked at his parents with a serious expression. “I’ve been working with both of them dad, I knew they could do this” he assured them.

The two elder heroes both looked at each other for a bit before looking at their son and the two youngest supers before they silently agreed. “While we would prefer that you not have to fight at your age” Jetstream started.

“You did good, very good, all three of you” the Commander added with a smile. He looked at the two boys and his smile got bigger. “And I can’t wait to see the two of you in action” he tells them. “Will, why haven’t you asked your mom and I to help you with their training?” he asks Will.

Will stutters for a response as Jude feels Connor grab his arm in excitement. “You would be willing to teach us?” Jude croaks.

Both of the older heroes smile. “We’d love to” Jetstream assures them. The Commander nods in agreement and Will talks with them about planning some future classes for the two of them to come to and work with the boys.

“Well I don’t know about anyone else, but this has been a long day. Fred, thank you again for all your help. Can we do anything for you?” the Commander turns to the healer and his wife who had been watching silently. 

“We actually need to go” Fred says with a smile. He looks over at Jude and Connor. “I will tell Alexandria that I finally got to meet you both. She talks about you a lot” he says with a smile.

Jude and Connor look shocked. “You’re Alexandria’s dad?” Connor gasps. They talk about Alex for a bit before Fred and his wife say their goodbyes to everyone and head back to the transporters which they used to arrive. If anyone had just realized that earlier it would have made things easier as they would have known they were okay. Lena offers the Commander and Jetstream coffee and they both accept and follow her into the kitchen. 

They are all sitting in the kitchen around the table, Jesus and Brandon are listening to the Commander tell a story about defeating an asteroid that was threatening China and asking for details when there is a sudden pounding on the door. Jude, now back in his regular clothes, goes to open the door and jumps back when Adam Stevens barrels in. “CONNOR!” he yells. He runs into the kitchen and freezes at the scene in front of him. Jude laughs and squeezes his shoulder as he pushes the older man into the kitchen.

"Did you want to join us for some coffee?" Jude asks Adam who only nods silently, still looking shocked. 

By the time Stef finally arrives home an hour later things have calmed down. Adam was not happy about Connor and Jude fighting the monster but when he barged in the kitchen and saw not only Sentinel, but the Commander and Jetstream sitting there drinking coffee with Lena, he was overwhelmed. After a brief recap of the fight by Will, with Connor blushing more and more with all the praise that Will was giving him, Adam was bursting with pride. Especially after he found out that his son was going to be training with the Commander and Jetstream.

Stef came in and, while surprised at seeing the two most famous heroes in the world sitting in her kitchen, she was so tired she didn’t really do anything besides collapse in a chair after hugging both of the boys for several minutes.

The Commander, Jetstream and Will all left shortly after Stef got home and Connor went home with his dad after giving Jude a look that he easily interpreted as “meet me in a few hours when everyone’s asleep” and then it was just Jude and his family.

“Jude” Stef said carefully into the quiet.

He looked at her and could see the concern and worry in her face. “Mom?” he asked gently.

“Can you promise to at least try and avoid stuff like this for at least a little while?” she asked plaintively.

He smiles and leans into her as she hugs him tightly. “I’ll try” he tells her and then smiles mischeviously “but my mom is a cop so helping people kinda runs in the family” he smiles at her chuckle as everyone heads upstairs to go to bed. 

Jude can’t believe his life now. Just a little over a year ago and he was living in foster care with an abusive foster father while his sister was in juvie. Now he had a family, discovered he was a super, had an amazing boyfriend he loved, and was being trained to be a hero to save the world. He laid down on his bed as he listened to Jesus settle down to go to sleep and smiled. Things were definitely better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Thank you for reading along with this story. I wrote this story with the idea of it being like a comic book in style (even if I can't draw) so I tried to keep it in that style. I think I have reached a good point for the story to stop, at least for a while, so I am calling this part of the tale complete. I don't want to write aimlessly so I think it is good to end here. I am keeping the door open to further adventures of our two super teens if I can get inspired. Thank you again for all the comments, kudos, and encouragement! - G_


End file.
